Overseas voters now can get ballots instantly - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy Times

Overseas voters now can get ballots instantly

The non-partisan Overseas Vote Foundation has launched an online tool that gives service members and other U.S. citizens stationed abroad another option to vote successfully in this year’s election.

Voters can download a Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot online. When the voter enters his last U.S. address, the Web site pulls up the list of candidates for federal races in that district. Voters can choose their candidates on the site and print out their choices, or print out the full list and fill it out by hand. Either way, the form must be signed and mailed to the local election office; ballots can’t be submitted online. Instructions are also included.

“This is such a huge step,” said Susan Dzieduszycka-Suinat, president and chief executive officer of the Overseas Vote Foundation. She announced the launch of the online tool Monday at a voting summit in Washington, D.C.

The tool solves “a persistent, long-term problem,” she said. “We already know a huge percentage of military voters are not going to get their ballots in time. Now they have a solution.”

When absentee ballots are mailed overseas from home districts, mail delays often make it hard for voters to fill them in and mail them back in time to be counted. And some overseas voters find that information about voting absentee is hard to come by.

The foundation has partnered with FedEx to return ballots to the U.S. from 89 countries, including Iraq and Afghanistan, for free or at greatly reduced prices, Dzieduszycka-Suinat said. Voters will be able to track their ballots and receive automatic delivery notification.

More information is available about countries where the service is available, which states and territories accept ballots by express delivery, and costs. For example, the service is free from Japan but costs $23.50 from Iraq or Afghanistan.