Representative Carolyn Maloney and two of her colleagues on the Americans Abroad Caucus, which she chairs, have introduced HR 5828, “A Bill to amend the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act to permit an absentee ballot application submitted by an absent uniformed services voter or overseas voter with respect to an election for Federal office to serve as an absentee ballot application for each subsequent election for Federal office held in the State through the next regularly scheduled general election for Federal office.” The bill also allows for early submission of a ballot request, ensuring finally that military and overseas voters will be enfranchised throughout an entire election cycle (primary, regular, special, and run-off elections).
Overseas voters can and should support this important legislation by urging their Members of Congress (find them at www.house.gov) to sign on to the bill as co-sponsors, and contacting the Committee on House Administration (see below), responsible for election reform legislation, reminding them that, given the distances involved and the difficulties inherent to overseas mail, it is important to be assured of the ability to vote in every federal election in each cycle.
Click here to see the text of the bill and here to see the press release from Congresswoman Maloney’s office.
Background:
The Help America Vote Act of 2002 extended the period during which overseas voters were registered to two full election cycles and the overseas population was delighted, not realizing the pitfalls of that provision. Rather than expanding the voting population, it added to the confusion inherent to the overseas voting process: people sometimes assumed they would receive their ballots but the two-year period was over; more seriously, local election offices sent ballots to outdated addresses, ballots were returned because the voter had moved, and voters were removed from the rolls.
That was fixed by the MOVE Act of 2009, which required overseas voters to request their ballots every year. The relevant section of the law was open to different interpretations, however, and voters and local officials were unsure whether it was necessary to request ballots for every election in a year (what, then, to do about very early primary, run-off or special elections?) or whether they could register/request ballots in December for a January primary. In a sense, the solution had created another problem.
HR5828 can change all that...
To write to, telephone or fax the Committee on House Administration:
Committee on House Administration
1309 Longworth House Office BuildingWashington, D.C. 20515
T - (202) 225-8281
F - (202) 225-9957