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Airmen should act now to ensure their votes will be counted

  • Published
  • 386th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
SOUTHWEST ASIA --  With only 15 days left until Election Day, time is growing short for Airmen to submit their absentee ballots to stateside voting officials.

Deployed Airmen should act now to ensure their votes will be counted on Nov. 2, according to Mr. Bob Carey, director of the Federal Voting Assistance Program.

"Assuming you already requested your ballot, you should have received it by now," Mr. Carey said. "If you have, vote it and send it in now."

To expedite delivery, the Military Postal Service Agency is offering free Express Mail service for all ballots. Members simply need to use DoD Label 11 on the outside of the envelope to guarantee Express Mail with online tracking, Mr. Carey said.

If Airmen haven't requested their ballots yet, it's not necessarily too late, since regulations and procedures vary from state to state.

To help servicemembers navigate the process, Mr. Carey recommends they visit the Federal Voting Assistance Program Web site, www.FVAP.gov, for access to a number of helpful tools that will walk deployed personnel through the right steps easily, quickly and intuitively.

"If you've gotten behind and not requested your absentee ballot, it's not too late," Mr. Carey said. "Many election officials can accept your registration and absentee ballot application by e-mail or fax, and will send you back your ballot by e-mail, fax or by posting online.

"Requesting your ballot is simple and fast at www.FVAP.gov, where you can use our online registration and absentee ballot assistant to complete your Federal Postcard Application and have your forms completed, printed out and ready to send back home in less than 10 minutes."

For more information, visit www.FVAP.gov