RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas –
As races for the White House and other elected offices heat up, it's time for Team Randolph and their families to make sure they'll have an opportunity to exercise their right to vote in November.
The process, governed by the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, is as easy as 1-2-3-4.
Maj. Brian Everitt, the 12th Flying Training Wing voting officer, said citizens must first submit a voter registration/absentee ballot request form, the Federal Post Card Application, to their local election official.
"They can go online to the Federal Voting Assistance Program Web site at www.fvap.gov and complete the form to print out and mail or they can come by the mental health clinic for the form, fill it out by hand and submit it by mail," said Major Everitt, who is also the Family Advocacy officer at Randolph.
Absentee ballot request forms must be mailed to the individual's state of residence. State addresses can be found at www.fvap.gov. A postage-paid envelope template can be printed from the Web site at www.fvap.gov/pubs/returnenvelope.pdf.
FVAP carries out the responsibilities of the Uniformed and Overseas Absentee Voting Act by informing and educating U.S. citizens worldwide of their right to vote, fostering voting participation and protecting and enhancing the electoral process. Its Web site features useful information for voters, including a PDF version of the Voting Assistance Guide.
The Federal Post Card Application requests the applicant's personal information, voting residence address, current address and other information including an affirmation, which requires a witness' or notary's signature in some states.
Once the local election officer in the citizen's state of residence receives the ballot request, approves it and mails the ballot back, the citizen votes and returns the ballot to the official in time to meet state deadlines. If there is insufficient time to receive the ballot, vote and return the ballot on time, the citizen submits a federal write-in absentee ballot.
Major Everitt said servicemembers' legal voting residence can be the state or territory where they last lived prior to entering military service or the state or territory that they have since claimed as their legal residence. Military and family members may change their legal residence every time they change permanent duty stations or retain their legal residence without change.
The FPCA used only to request a ballot should be received by election officials at least 45 days before election day to allow ample time to process the request and mail the ballot.
Major Everitt encourages service and family members to submit the FPCA used to request a ballot each year, whether it's an election year or not - but no later than September - to ensure their local election official has their current address and to allow ample time to process the request and mail the ballot. They should also mail the absentee ballot no later than Oct. 15 for a November election. The FPCA used for voter registration and a ballot request should be submitted in January.
Major Everitt said one of his roles as wing voting officer is to develop a voting action plan for Randolph to ensure that servicemembers on base know about the process. One of the activities is planned for Armed Forces Voting Week, Aug. 31-Sept. 7.
"We'll do a campaign that week to get the word out," he said.
For more information on the voting process, call Major Everitt at 652-2448.