Absentee Voting for Military and Overseas Voters What City Clerks Need to Know Presenter: Beth Fraser Director of Governmental Affairs Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State Webinar hosted by League of Minnesota Cities
Military and Overseas voters are also called UOCAVA voters UOCAVA stands for the federal law: Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act
Why it is important for City Clerks to know about this process: Not all UOCAVA voters are allowed to vote in all races UOCAVA voters have a right to special procedures to help them vote
Who are UOCAVA voters? Active duty military members (and their families) serving away from home Whether in U.S. or abroad Entitled to vote on all races on the ballot Residents living overseas temporarily Entitled to vote on all races on the ballot U.S. Citizens who live indefinitely outside the U.S. Vote based on last address before leaving U.S. Must have lived in Minnesota for at least 20 days immediately before leaving the country May only vote in federal races
UOCAVA Voters are entitled both federal and state law to special procedures designed to help them vote.
Special application procedures for military and overseas voters Relatives can apply on their behalf: spouse, parent, adult child or sibling Must apply using the Federal Postcard Application (FPCA)
There is a special one-stop website especially designed for Minnesota s military and overseas voters to assist voters with this process: https://minnesota.overseasvotefoundation.org/vote/home.htm
Cities should consider posting a link to this site on their websites.
Special Voting Procedures Voters may have blank ballots sent to them electronically (by e-mail or fax) Print out ballot and return paper copy Voters are not required to have a witness Ballots need to be received by Election Day Low / free options for expedited ballot return FedEx s Program, Express Your Vote Military voters can send their ballots expedited free of charge
Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot (FWAB) For use when military and overseas voters are worried about not receiving their ballot in time Basically it s a blank sheet of paper New tool provides military and overseas voters lists of candidates to choose from: https://minnesota.overseasvotefoundation.org/vote/f wabstart.htm?vrstate=mn
How to recognize a regular absentee ballot application from a UOCAVA Voter The address to which the ballot should be sent includes: APO or FPO (Army Post Office or Fleet Post Office) An address in another country (not including Guam, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, or American Samoa)
What to do if you think you received a regular absentee ballot application from a UOCAVA voter
If the voter comes to your counter in-person, it depends what kind of UOCAVA voter they are: Military voters or voters overseas temporarily may vote in person using regular application Voter overseas permanently may not vote at your counter. They are only entitled to vote in federal races. If they want to vote in person, they ll need to go to county auditor s / county elections office.
If the voter submits a regular absentee ballot application by mail: Election officials need to try to contact the voter to see if they are a UOCAVA voter. Talk to your county to determine who will process the application and try to contact the voter.
If your county has you enter the application: In the comments field note, may be UOCAVA voter Prepare the ballot to be sent; do not delay sending the ballot Try to contact the voter by phone or e-mail to let them know their options.
Be sure to tell the voter the following: It appears from your absentee ballot application you may be in the military or overseas. If so, there are special procedures you are entitled to, including having your ballot e-mailed to you. To access these benefits you must submit a different absentee ballot application, called the Federal Postcard Application (FPCA), which can be accessed at https://minnesota.overseasvotefoundation.org. When filling out the FPCA, be sure to include the following info the Note to Elections Officials (Box 9): I have already applied for an absentee ballot using the regular process and want the local election official to consider that ballot spoiled.
If voter submits a Federal Postcard Application (FPCA): If it s sent to you, forward it to your county immediately If it s sent to county: They will call you and have you cancel the absentee record you created. They will create a UOCAVA record for the voter and issue the ballot to them.
Processing Returned UOCAVA Ballots
Your County Auditor is required to have an Absentee Ballot Board to accept and reject ABs from UOCAVA voters If you run a municipal AB board that counts your ballots, your county will forward the accepted UOCAVA ballots to you for processing You will need to keep track of the number of ballots from citizens permanently overseas (federal only ballots)
In a presidential election year, you will also need to keep track of the number of presidential-only ballots You will need to have a team of election judges (of different major political parties) duplicate any ballots that were sent to voters electronically as well as any Federal Write-in Absentee Ballots Before separating the voters certificates from ballot envelopes, make one pile for federal only ballots and one for all other AB ballots
If the county has forwarded both a FWAB for the voter and a regular ballot for the voter, be sure to only count the regular ballot. You may want to set all FWABs aside until Election Day, so that the voter will have a chance to have their full ballot counted, if it s received. For military voters and voters overseas temporarily, the roster will need to be marked once the ballot has been accepted. This does not apply to voters overseas permanently because their names are not included on the roster.
Questions?
RESOURCES Contact Heather Cederholm, IGR Liaison, at hcederholm@lmc.org (651) 281-1256 For a recording of this webinar, go to: www.lmc.org/absentee2012