For Overseas Voters, 2020 US Election is Now – What You Can Do

Overseas US citizens can start or keep doing three things to contribute to a safe and legitimate election in 2020. 

1. Register to vote/request a ballot, and help/encourage others to do so. 
2. Make a plan to vote safely and successfully in 2020, carry it out and help others to do so. 
3. Spread accurate information about overseas voting and the election, and combat disinformation spread by various bad actors.

Read more about each of these below.

Register to vote/request a ballot

If you have not registered to vote/requested a ballot, a little time remains, but the window gets smaller every day and soon will close. Go to the US Vote Foundation or the Federal Voter Assistance Program (FVAP), fill out the registration/request form and return it to your local election official ASAP. State registration deadlines are just around the corner (October 5 in Texas, for example); check your state’s deadline with US Vote .

Send your form electronically to your local election official, to beat the deadline – and remember to request electronic ballot delivery. (Overseas voters who registered earlier than you are already voting!) If you know anyone who has not yet registered to vote, urge them to do so, and hep them if they need assistance. If you or they have questions, contact FAWCO: .

Make a plan to vote safely and successfully in 2020, carry it out and help others

Read Voting in 2020 – Overcoming Every Obstacle to find out how to make a plan to vote safely and successfully this year.

The clock is ticking here, too! If your ballot does not arrive by October 1, go to the US Vote Foundation or FVAP and get, fill out and send a Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot (FWAB). Be just as careful in voting the FWAB as you would your regular ballot. If your regular ballot arrives after you have sent the FWAB, vote and send that, too, and let the local election official decide which to count.

If you or other overseas Americans that you know have questions about voting and returning a ballot, contact FAWCO: .

Spread accurate information about overseas voting and the election, and combat disinformation

Spread accurate information about overseas voting and the election, and combat disinformation spread by various bad actors, both foreign and, sadly, domestic.

Voting absentee/by mail

As overseas voters, and particularly FAWCO members, know, voting absentee/by mail is a safe, secure process that dates back before the Civil War.

1. See the top page of the FAWCO US Voting site for a list of support materials on ballot return and voting, including a very useful article on avoiding five common mistakes in voting by mail. 
2. In addition, more and more states (46 in total) offer voters a way to track their ballots through the system. Some, like North Carolina, even offer a process that enables voters who made mistakes with their ballot to “cure” them. See more in an article by NBC News. 
3. Ellen Weintraub, chair of the Federal Election Commission, gives useful information through her Twitter account. 
4. Christopher Wray, Director of the FBI, announced that the FBI has not seen evidence of national voter fraud effort by mail.  
5. The Brennan Center for Justice offers a lot of information on the safety and security of voting by mail, including this analysis.

Sharing accurate information and fighting disinformation

Spread accurate information and fight disinformation – you can do this in your family, social circle, workplace, FAWCO club and wider circle – overseas and in the USA.

1. FAWCO warned about this in November 2019: Vote smart, check sources!, and recently pointed out that the USA has Election Months – not a single Election Day. Contact FAWCO () with questions or concerns.
2. See the 2020 Presidential Election Timeline from the New York Times, to find out what happens and when in the electoral process.  
3. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), part of the Department of Homeland Security, has a section on Foreign Interference, which includes 9 one-page infographics to inform citizens and enable them to protect themselves and others from disinformation “designed to sow discord, manipulate public discourse, discredit the electoral system, bias the development of policy, or disrupt markets for the purpose of undermining the interests of the United States and its allies”. One of them is called Disinformation stops with you.
4. The FBI’s Protected Voices initiative "provides tools and resources to political campaigns, companies, and individuals to protect against online foreign influence operations and cybersecurity threats".
5. The FBI and CISA made a public service announcement on September 22, 2020: Foreign actors and cybercriminals likely to spread disinformation regarding 2020 election results. All of it is interesting, but the recommendations are particularly useful. 

• “Seek out information from trustworthy sources, such as state and local election officials; verify who produced the content; and consider their intent. 
• Verify through multiple reliable sources any reports about problems in voting or election results, and consider searching for other reliable sources before sharing such information via social media or other avenues. 
• For information about final election results, rely on state and local government election officials. 
• Report potential election crimes—such as disinformation about the manner, time, or place of voting—to the FBI. 
• If appropriate, make use of in-platform tools offered by social media companies for reporting suspicious posts that appear to be spreading false or inconsistent information about election-related problems or results.