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Don't let voting requirements keep you from casting a ballot

  • Published
  • By Chandra Lloyd
  • Air Force Materiel Command Public Affairs
With the November elections approaching, voting resources ranging from Defense Department websites to installation level assistance officers are available for military members and their families.

"Voting is a constitutional right and the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act covers all active-duty members of the uniformed services and their families," said Maj. Stephen Pipes, Air Force Materiel Command voting assistance officer. "We want all military and family members away from their homes to be able to exercise their right to vote."

In an effort to recognize military voting, DOD officials have designated Sept. 27 to Oct. 4 as Absentee Voters Week. The week was designated to encourage absentee voters to register and request absentee ballots, if they have not already done so, and to encourage registered voters with ballots to complete and return them to local election officials.

Resources available to voters include making contact with their unit or installation voting assistance officer.

A voting assistance hotline at each base is also available. Numbers for these hotlines can be found in the base directory or by calling the base operator. In addition, organizational e-mail boxes have also been set up at vote@base.af.mil - where 'base' is replaced with the respective installation's name - to answer any questions about voting.

DOD officials have also taken steps to make absentee voting easier for military members and their families, to include federal civilian employees, by launching a website for the Federal Voting Assistance Program.

Based on a survey of questions, the website automatically determines the voter's election jurisdiction, and the proper information needed to meet specific state and local registration and absentee ballot requirements and deadlines. The website also includes a 24/7 online chat feature.

Voters can go to https://www.fvap.gov/r3/fwab/home to fill in the Federal Post Card Application using a wizard that assists the absentee voter in completing the form based for a specific state or county of residence.

"This website puts absentee voting a mouse-click away for anyone with Internet access. It makes the process much smoother and easier to access for those not living in their state of residence," said Major Pipes. "I believe we will see an increase in absentee voting because of this program."

Although each state's specific residency and voter registration requirements vary, military members and their families may vote at local elections if stationed or working in their voting legal residence city and state.

If voters are stationed outside of their legal voting residence they must use their state's absentee process. For voting purposes, the legal voting residence can be the state or territory where the service member last resided prior to entering military service or the state or territory that a service member has since claimed as his or her legal residence.

There may be legal obligations, such as taxation, if legal residency is changed, so voters should visit their base legal office for advice on local and state tax policies.

November 2, 2010 is the general election and since deadlines vary by state, voters can log onto http://www.fvap.gov/map.html and click on their state of legal residence for additional information. More voting information can be found at http://www.afpc.randolph.af.mil/library/airforcevoting/index.asp .