Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Americans overseas can still have their say in who gets the keys to The White House. getty One concern many Americans have when making a move overseas is that they could lose their right to vote in presidential elections. Rest assured you do not.
All U.S. citizens aged over 18 have the right to vote in federal contests, even if they live abroad.
Indeed, in some cases, Americans who have never lived in the U.S. have the right to vote, though this varies according to individual state rules.
The reason for this is voting in the U.S. comes under the purview of states, not the federal government.
One important thing to note is that you do not need to return to the United States to cast your ballot. You just need to understand the process for absentee voting. Just as you would back home, when voting from outside the U.
S. you need to comply with the rules in your voting state. Your voting state will be the last place you lived in the U.
S. before moving overseas. The specific ballot you get will be determined by your former physical address.
It may seem strange but you use this address even if you no longer own the property, no longer have ties to the state, nor have any intention of returning. It doesn’t matter if you were never registered to vote when you lived there or even if your address in that state no longer exists as a residence, it’s still the one you use. Under federal law, states are required to provide voters with a method by which they can electronically request and receive blank absentee ballots.
This is done via email attachments, document downloads, and online portals. MORE FOR YOU New Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra Price Lands As Pixel 9 Releases Why Fans Think ‘It Ends With Us’ Stars Blake Lively, Justin Baldoni Are Feuding—As Baldoni Reportedly Hires Crisis PR Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Clues And Answers For Wednesday, August 14 Most states allow for some form of electronic return of your ballot. If your state doesn’t permit this then you’ll need to get the physical ballot back to the state prior to election day which can be done via mail, delivery service, or through your local U.
S. consulate. The official federal government program for overseas voters is the Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP) which is essentially an interface between overseas voters and their respective states.
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render(randId); }); })(); Fill in the FVAP questionnaire to receive your Voter Registration and Absentee Ballot Request (also called a Federal Post Card Application, or FPCA). You’ll then need to sign the FPCA and send it to your state election officials as per the instructions given to you from FVAP. Every state accepts the FPCA by mail, and most accept electronic submissions.
You can also drop your FPCA off at a U.S. consulate for forwarding to the U.
S. Once approved, you will be added to the absentee ballot list for your state and receive your blank absentee ballot. States send these out 45 days before November general elections.
You can then return your completed ballot by mail, courier, fax, email, web portal, or via a U.S. consulate depending on your voting state rules.
Ideally, expats will start the registration process with the FVAP at the beginning of each calendar year, or at least 45 days before an election. If you’ve left it late to register and are worried there isn’t enough time to receive and send back your ballot before the election you can use the Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot (FWAB). This blank, write-in ballot can serve as back-up.
Should your official absentee ballot arrive after you’ve submitted the FWAB, complete and send in the official ballot too—only one will be counted. While voting from overseas isn’t as simple as a trip to your polling station it’s a relatively straightforward process and a right of some 3 million U.S.
citizens living abroad..
