VOTING IN 2018 U.S. ELECTIONS

[American Legion Post TH01]

Received this by email from the ACS section of the US embassy today.

 

VOTING IN 2018 U.S. ELECTIONS

 

Your vote counts!  Did you know that many U.S. elections for house and senate seats have been decided by a margin smaller than the number of ballots cast by absentee voters? All states are required to count every absentee ballot as long as it is valid and reaches local election officials by the absentee ballot receipt deadline.

 

Follow a few simple steps to make sure that you can vote in the 2018 U.S. elections:

 

1.     Request Your Ballot:  Complete a new Federal Post Card Application (FPCA).  You must complete a new FPCA after January 1, 2018 to ensure you receive your ballot for the 2018 elections.  The completion of the FPCA allows you to request absentee ballots for all elections for federal offices (President, U.S. Senate, and U.S. House of Representatives) including primaries and special elections during the calendar year in which it is submitted.  The FPCA is accepted by all local election officials in all U.S. states and territories. 

 

You can complete the FPCA online at www.FVAP.gov.  The online voting assistant will ask you questions specific to your state.  We encourage you to ask your local election officials to deliver your blank ballots to you electronically (by email, internet download, or fax, depending on your state).  Include your email address on your FPCA to take advantage of the electronic ballot delivery option.  Return the FPCA per the instructions on the website.  FVAP.gov will tell you if your state allows the FPCA to be returned electronically or if you must submit a paper copy with original signature.  If you must return a paper version, please see below for mailing options.

 

2.     Receive and Complete Your Ballot:  States are required to send out ballots 45 days before a regular election for federal office and states generally send out ballots at least 30 days before primary elections.  For most states, you can confirm your registration and ballot delivery online.

 

3.     Return Your Completed Ballot:  Some states allow you to return your completed ballot by email or fax.  If your state requires you to return paper voting forms or ballots to local election officials, you can use international mail, a courier service such as FedEx or DHL, or you may also drop off completed voting materials at the U.S. Embassy Bangkok or U.S. Consulate Chiang Mai Monday-Friday 7:30-11:00am, except for the last Wednesday of the month and Thai and U.S. holidays.  Place your materials in a postage paid return envelope (available under “Downloadable Election Materials” on the FVAP homepage) or in an envelope bearing sufficient domestic U.S. postage, and address it to the relevant local election officials. 

 

4.  New this year – email to fax service by FVAP! - the Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP) will provide an email-to-fax conversion service for voters who have difficulty sending election materials to States that do not accept emailed documents.  Get more information here.

 

Researching the Candidates and Issues:  Online Resources.  Check out the FVAP links page for helpful resources that will aid your research of candidates and issues.  Non-partisan information about candidates, their voting records, and their positions on issues are widely available and easy to obtain online.  You can also read national and hometown newspapers online, or search the internet to locate articles and information.  For information about election dates and deadlines, subscribe to FVAP's Voting Alerts ([email protected]).  FVAP also shares Voting Alerts via Facebookand Twitter.

 

Learn more at the Federal Voting Assistance Program's (FVAP) website, FVAP.gov.  If you have any questions about registering to vote overseas, please contact the Voting Assistance Officer in Bangkok at [email protected] or Chiang Mai at [email protected].

 

 

Remember, your vote counts!        

Be absent but accounted for!

 

Edited January 24, 2018 by American Legion Post TH01

[ubonjoe]

Notice

This topic is for info. Please limit your posts to questions and answers about voting.

Off topic and political posts will be removed without notice.

 

Edit: Pinned topic again.

Edited September 20, 2018 by ubonjoe

[realenglish1]

I have done this for many years

[Wrong Turn]

Thank you for this info.

 

I'll be moving to Bangkok next month in April. 

[JimGant]

What if you're stateless?

When I moved full time to Thailand last year, I severed any ties with Virginia that could be construed as having an intent to return -- as Virginia is one of the most aggressive in keeping their tax hook into former residents. Cutting my voter registration was one severance:

 

Quote

Any registered voter may cancel his registration and have his name removed from the central registration records by signing an authorization for cancellation and mailing or otherwise submitting the signed authorization to the general registrar. The general registrar shall acknowledge receipt of the authorization and advise the voter in person or by first-class mail that his registration has been canceled within 10 days of receipt of such authorization. § 24.2-427

So, now I'm stateless, as I'm sure my mail forwarding address in Texas wouldn't qualify for voter registration, as it shouldn't -- why should I be allowed to vote for a senator or congressman who certainly would not be representing me....

 

But, to be able to vote for the next president should somehow be allowed for stateless folks like myself. I just want to be able to check the box next to anybody who doesn't have a Twitter account.

[American Legion Post TH01]

Just a reminder of the upcoming elections in November.

Got the this today in a STEP email today.

 

Final Opportunities to Return Voted Ballots

 

Embassies and consulates are not polling places.  Don’t wait.  Return your voted ballot right away!

The majority of states require voted ballots to reach local election officials by the close of polls on Tuesday, November 6.  U.S. embassies and consulates are not polling places; same-day in-person voting is not available outside the United States.

 

Never received your ballot?  If you registered to vote and requested your absentee ballot prior to your state’s registration and absentee ballot request deadlines but have not received your ballot by October 9, you should complete and return a Federal Write-in Absentee Ballot to ensure your vote reaches election officials by your state’s deadline.  If your regular ballot arrives later, go ahead and complete and return it as well.  Your Federal Write-in Absentee Ballot will only be counted if your regular ballot does not reach local election officials by your state’s deadline.  Your vote will not be counted twice.

 

Returning your ballot by mail.  If you wish to send your completed ballot via mail, place your completed ballot in a U.S. postage-paid envelope addressed to your local election official.  Drop it off at the Embassy or Consulate, and we’ll send it back home for you without the need to pay international postage.  If you can’t visit the Embassy or Consulate in person, ask a friend or colleague drop it off for you.  If it’s easier for you to use the Thai postal system, be sure to affix sufficient international postage, and allow sufficient time for international mail delivery. 

 

You can drop off your completed ballot at U.S. Embassy Bangkok or at Consulate General Chiang Mai to be mailed.  Ballots must be received at Embassy Bangkok or Consulate General Chiang Mai by October 12, 2018 in order to be mailed in time for the November 6 election.

 

What if I miss the above deadline?  If you wish to participate in this election and have not yet sent your ballot to your local election officials by our Embassy or Consulate drop-off deadline listed above, you should consider returning your ballot to the United States via an express courier service such as FedEx, UPS, or DHL or electronically if allowed by your state.  Ballots sent to local election officials via express courier service do not receive standard postmarks, so voters using this method should confirm delivery on or before November 6th prior to payment and shipment.  Check your state’s voting procedures at www.FVAP.gov for guidance.

 

Returning your Federal Write-in Absentee Ballot by email or fax.  Consult and carefully review your state’s voting procedures at www.FVAP.gov.

 

HELP SPREAD THE WORD ABOUT OVERSEAS VOTING.  Please help spread the word to your friends, family, and colleagues that now is the time to start thinking about overseas voting.  Consider posting to your Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, or other social media account that you are an active voter and will be dropping off or mailing your Federal Post Card Application or completed ballot.  Use #ProudOverseasVoter to help get the word out about voting.

 

Have Questions? Please contact the Voting Assistance Officer at [email protected] or [email protected].  You can also contact the Federal Voting Assistance Program directly if you encounter issues with local election officials by emailing [email protected] or toll free by phone from many countries around the world.

 

Confirm your registration and ballot delivery online. Learn more at the Federal Voting Assistance Program's (FVAP) website at www.FVAP.gov.

 

 

[JimGant]

can anybody translate what this small print on the bottom says:

голосовать за козырь

[GinBoy2]

To ditto @JimGrant, there are some States where you have to be carefull.

Sacramento definitely works on the 'Hotel California' principle. They can constitute almost anything to determine you are still a resident and subject to State tax, and voting is right up there along with a DL.

If you are in Thailand, best thing is to establish a residency, real or virtual, in one of the zero tax States, then register to vote with via the federal system

Edited September 21, 2018 by GinBoy2

[tpazzi]

On 9/20/2018 at 10:46 PM, GinBoy2 said:

If you are in Thailand, best thing is to establish a residency, real or virtual, in one of the zero tax States, then register to vote with via the federal system

There's a gotcha in that,  at least as far as Florida (which is a zero tax state) goes.    Florida counties (perhaps not all, but at least the one I came from) there use the voting rolls for issuing Jury Summons.   They will defer you twice if you are overseas when your jury duty date comes up.  But if you can't make the third one, you are subject to a judge issuing a bench warrant for your arrest.   

Don't think that would be a very fun home coming welcoming.    

[olfu]

^{There is age limit for jury duty  in Florida--72 years old.}