All posts tagged vote from overseas

New York voters overseas will be interested in this

by waybeyondthebeltway on October 12, 2009 in Americans Abroad with No comments

New York District 23 – Get Ready for the November 3, 2009 Special Election

On Tuesday, November 3, 2009 New York will hold a special State election to fill the congressional vacancy left by the appointment of Army Secretary John McHugh. A list of candidates will be available after October 14, 2009 at http://www.elections.state.ny.us. The 23rd Congressional District includes the following counties:  Clinton, Franklin, Jefferson, Hamilton, Lewis, Madison, Oswego, St. Lawrence, and parts of Essex, Fulton and Oneida Counties. Look up your voter registration and find your polling place https://voterlookup.elections.state.ny.us/votersearch.aspx

Request Your Ballot

If you do not have an absentee ballot request on file, you need to fill one out as soon as possible. The Federal Post Card Application (FPCA) ballot application and instructions are available at www.fvap.gov.  If you are eligible to vote in this election, and requested and received a ballot for last year’s presidential election, you will automatically receive an absentee ballot.  You can check your registration status at https://voterlookup.elections.state.ny.us/votersearch.aspx. Your absentee ballot application needs to be postmarked by October 27, 2009.

Receive and Return Your Ballot

Ballots will not be available until at the earliest October 14, 2009. If a list of candidates has been certified by this date, local election officials will begin mailing ballots beginning October 14, 2009.

Ballots must be postmarked no later than the day before Election Day (11/2/09) and are due back to your local election official by November 16, 2009.

NOTE: Because there are only 32 days for your ballot to reach you and for you to vote it, we are highly recommending that you use the Federal Write in Absentee Ballot (FWAB) once a list of candidates is made available.  You can find an online version of the FWAB and New York instructions on how to fill out and submit the form are available at www.fvap.gov.

For More Information: Go to the New York State Board of Election website at http://www.elections.state.ny.us/ or visit FVAP at: www.fvap.gov.

FVAP Releases 2008 Survey Methods

by waybeyondthebeltway on October 11, 2009 in Americans Abroad with No comments

FVAP has released the 2008 Survey Methods and invites questions and comments from academics and others.

October 5, 2009 – Arlington, VA – The Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP) is pre-releasing its 2008 Post-Election Survey methods and questions and is inviting election officials, military and overseas voting advocates and members of academia to review FVAPs methods for statistical reliability and that they meet the industry standards.

FVAP is required by law to conduct these surveys after every Presidential election and report specifically on the effectiveness of assistance provided by FVAP to military and overseas citizens, an analysis of Uniformed Services and overseas nonmilitary voter participation, and a description of State-federal cooperation.

However, the greatest public interest has been in the statistical analyses of voter participation rates. With that interest has also been significant criticism of the statistical methods used in previous surveys, especially the 2004 survey. In response to that criticism, FVAP engaged the Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC) to incorporate FVAP’s survey questions into its annual Status of Forces Survey (SOFS), a well-respected, widely accepted survey methodology for assessing military personnel issues, and marks a substantial improvement in the methodology used for FVAP’s 2008 voting survey.

The early release of this section of the 2008 final report is done so that the UOCAVA voting community, other government agencies, and interested professionals can review the survey’s methodology in advance of the final survey analysis and report writing. It is FVAP’s hope that this cycle of surveys will set a new benchmark for analyzing military voting participation, and that the early release of the survey methodology and questions will help identify any remaining statistical issues before issuing the final report, and to address many of the criticisms raised regarding the 2004 and prior surveys. Specifically, a DMDC Survey Note is also being released describing the key statistical methodological differences between the 2004 and 2008 surveys.

FVAP Director Bob Carey invited interested observers to critically assess the 2008 Survey methodology, “Broad public acceptance of the statistical methods underlying this survey is crucial to public acceptance of their results. I invite the academic community, election officials, and the UOCAVA voting advocacy community to take a ‘wire-brush’ to our methods and tell us where we can improve, before we write the final report.” Comments can be submitted to FVAP’s Survey Manager erin.stpierre@fvap.ncr.gov by October 26th, 2009.

All methods can be found at http://www.fvap.gov/reference/18threport.html.

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OVF 2008 Post Election Survey

by waybeyondthebeltway on November 8, 2008 in Americans Abroad with No comments

We are moving into post election mode and want to help to direct Americans overseas to the Overseas Vote Foundation (“OVF”) 2008 Post Election Survey.

This is OVF’s third post general election survey and a very important one. It is not OVF centric. It is all about overseas and military voting and determining where problems persist. The analysis and publication will be done together with the Research Triangle Institute.

Please post the link to the survey on your site and/or pass the link around.

Express Your Vote

by waybeyondthebeltway on October 12, 2008 in Americans Abroad with 1 Comment

All overseas voters should know about the Express Your Vote ballot return program which is underway now. The program is provided by Overseas Vote Foundation and supported by FedEx in 89 countries.  It was well researched with all states prior to launch, and as voters can see on the front page www.overseasvotefoundation.org/expressyourvote the list of states that are participating is extensive. (The only state that does not accept express mail ballots is Alabama.)

With Express Your Vote, voters are instructed to staple one copy of the Air Waybill to the ballot envelope – it functions as the postmark.  This is known and accepted by all participating states.  The program offers highly-discounted rates from Canada, Latin American, Europe and the Middle East.  Free shipping is available from 14 Asian countries, Australia and New Zealand.

These services at these rates, including in many countries, at-your-doorstep-pick-up are not usually available to individuals overseas.

Voters can track their ballots through Express Your Vote and will receive an automatic confirmation of delivery.

Please note: It is very important that all overseas Americans groups support and communicate about Express Your Vote to their member voters.  Interest and use of the program will send a very strong message to all express courier companies that this is a good thing to do – to support U.S. overseas voters!  Lack of use will send the message that is not needed or appreciated and will affect future willingness on the part of FedEx and other courier companies to invest in similar actions in future elections.

A Primer on Primaries

by waybeyondthebeltway on November 11, 2007 in Americans Abroad, Voting with No comments

Presidential primaries are unnecessarily complicated, but they provide us with a unique opportunity to pick our presidential candidates,OVF Primer illustration particularly if you hail from one of the early caucus/primary states of Iowa and New Hampshire.

If you have any questions about the Presidential Preference Primaries, Overseas Vote Foundation has put together an excellent primer on the subject, the PDF of which you can read or download here: PRIMER for the Primaries.

The primary season is fast approaching so get up to speed now and register to vote!