Information for Travelers
Important Notice About The 2008 U.S. Elections
As you are aware, the 2008 U. S. presidential and state primary season is well underway. We encourage you to act now so that your opinion is heard in the November 2008 presidential and general elections and remaining presidential primary and state primary elections that will be taking place. The official U.S. Government website for overseas absentee voting assistance is the Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP) website at www.fvap.gov.
Generally, all U.S. citizens 18 years or older who are or will be residing outside the United States during an election period are eligible to vote absentee in any election for Federal office. This includes primary, run-off, and special elections that occur throughout the year, as well as the general election in November 2008. Some states will allow overseas voters to vote in elections for state and local offices, and for state and local referendums.
Voting eligibility and residency requirements are determined by the various U.S. states, and are available on-line at http://fvap.gov/pubs/vag.html. Your "legal state of residence" for voting purposes is the state where you last resided immediately prior to departure from the United States. Voting rights extend to overseas citizens even though they may no longer own property or have other ties to their last state of residence, and even if their intent to return to that state may be uncertain. For those who have never resided in the U.S., sixteen states, to date, allow eligible U.S. citizens to register where a parent would be eligible to vote.
To register to vote and/or apply for an absentee ballot, you can use the Federal Post Card Application (FPCA). The on-line version, the OFPCA, is accepted by all states and territories except American Samoa and Guam. The on-line OFPCA form must be completed legibly, printed, signed, dated, and mailed to your local election officials. Your state may allow faxing to speed the process, but you will still need to send in the original by mail. Use an envelope and affix proper postage. The official U.S. Government website for overseas absentee voting assistance, http://www.fvap.gov, has a wealth of information about absentee voting, including the state-specific instructions for completing the FPCA form, links to state and local officials, and a downloadable emergency ballot for use by those who register in time but fail to receive an official ballot.
As a general rule, you should try to send in the FPCA so that it reaches your local election officials at least forty-five days before the first election in which you are eligible to vote — ample time for them to process the request and send you a blank ballot. If applying for both registration and an absentee ballot, you may want to mail the FPCA earlier. One FPCA will qualify you to receive all ballots for Federal offices for the next two regular Federal elections (through 2010). However, we recommend that you submit a new FPCA every year, and whenever you move, to ensure that your most recent mailing and e-mail addresses are on file with your local election officials.
Under normal circumstances, most states and territories begin sending ballots to overseas citizens 30-45 days before an election. However, if you have not received your ballot within three weeks of your state’s ballot receipt deadline, and you are required to return your voted ballot by mail, you should download, complete, sign, date, and send in a Federal Write-in Absentee Ballot (FWAB), available at http://www.fvap.gov/pubs/onlinefwab.html. You should also make sure the FWAB is witnessed if your state requires. If you subsequently receive your regular absentee ballot in the mail, you should execute it and return it regardless of when you receive it. Court decisions sometimes require late counting of ballots voted by Election Day, but received by local election officials for a specified period of time following Election Day.
Additionally, the Voting Assistance Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Paramaribo, Suriname is available to answer questions about absentee voting. To contact the consular section at the embassy, please email us at caparamar@state.gov or phone at +597 472-900 ext 2236. Again, we encourage you to begin this process as soon as possible and we are here to assist you.