The USA needs overseas Americans to play their part in the nationwide elections in autumn 2024. If you ask why your country needs you so much, see US Voting Committee articles here, here and here, to name just a few sources of information.
If you have not already registered to vote/requested a ballot, do it now. Why? Overseas voters have to surmount higher obstacles in a shorter election year than domestic voters, so we need to take action early and carefully carry out a plan to ensure that we cast valid votes in 2024.
Voting from overseas is a lot like taking a test in school: doing it requires us to follow the instructions of our states very carefully. In addition. our “election year” is only a little over nine months long. We can’t register before January 1 and we generally need to send our ballots back to the US in early October, a month before the domestic Election Day, to be sure that they meet state deadlines. The law requires states to send out ballots 45 days before the Election Day (around September 20 in 2024), and local election officials need time to process your form before sending you a ballot.
What to do – individually and in your club and community
Right away, go to your computer and fill out the form available on two safe, secure and nonpartisan websites – the Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP) and the US Vote Foundation – in order to register to vote/request a ballot.
Tips for individuals
Almost the first thing to do in filling out the form, after clicking on your voting state, is to identify what kind of voter you are and thus what kind of ballot you will get.
- If you click “US citizen living outside the country, and I intend to return,” you will get a ballot with not only federal offices (President and Vice-president, US Senate and House of Representatives) but also state and local offices (if the state allows that). You will also be liable to have the information you give on the form used for state and local tax purposes. Note that “I intend to return” means that you aim to return to the US permanently at some point: an intention, not a firm plan.
- If you click on “US citizen living outside the country, and my return is uncertain,” you will get a ballot for federal offices only, and your information cannot be used for tax purposes.
You need to give both a US voting address (the last address you voted/lived at in the US) in order to qualify as a voter in your state, and your current address, to which your ballot will be sent. You do not need to own or have any current connection to your voting address.
It’s also a good idea to give your email address and telephone number, in case your local election official needs to contact you.
In later parts of the form, remember to click the boxes that will ensure that:
- your ballot(s) will be delivered electronically; and
- you can vote in all elections during 2024.
When you have completed the form, the website will generate a multipage PDF containing your form, often with the date already added for you. Download the PDF, check that the contents of the form are correct, and then print and sign it. The form isn’t valid if the info is incorrect or your signature or the date is missing. Always check that the form has correct data, the date (in the format requested by your state) and your signature.
Then send the form as quickly and safely as possible to your local election official (LEO). The PDF will include both instructions on returning the form and the name and contact details of your LEO. It is a good idea to keep the PDF in your files and to contact the LEO a couple of weeks after you return the form to ensure that you are registered with no problems. It is also a good idea to keep a copy of the signed form; this will let you check the signature you used, which is important in states that include signature matching as part of their verification process.
Who’s eligible?
All Americans overseas who were born in the USA are eligible to vote in the USA, even if they have never voted there. Things are different for so-called “citizen children”: people born outside the USA but who have citizenship and can document a cumulative physical presence in the US for at least five years, two of which were after the age of 14. See the US Citizenship section of the FAWCO website for more info about citizenship and its transmission.
When filling out their registration/request forms, a citizen child uses the US voting address of their citizen parent(s) as their voting address. Citizen children can vote in 37 US states, although three (Connecticut, Illinois and Wisconsin) restrict them to federal ballots only. Thirteen states still don’t let them vote at all: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Texas, Washington and Wyoming.
FAWCO advocates extending voting rights to citizen children in every state and jurisdiction by lobbying the US Congress during Overseas Americans Week.
What to do in your club and community
As the safety messages on airplanes always say, if the oxygen masks are deployed, be sure your put on your own mask before trying to help anyone else. So fill out and send your form first (if you have not already done so). When you have registered/requested a ballot, spread the message above in your club and any other groups in your community to which you belong. Spread the word to all the other overseas Americans you can find, and ask others to spread it to any Americans they know.
If you have any questions about the process or wish to make suggestions to our join FAWCO’s US Voting Committee, contact the Committee by email ().