Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act

FVAP

The Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP), part of the Department of Defense, is the program that administers the UOCAVA as well as the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 on behalf of the Secretary of Defense. The FVAP states its goals as to "inform and educate U.S. citizens worldwide of their right to vote; facilitate voting participation; and protect the integrity of, and simultaneously enhance, the electoral process at the Federal, State and local levels."

Voting methods

UOCAVA lets uniformed service members request absentee ballots as early as they wish in an election year. Any time after that request they may send the Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot from outside the US, so they can vote even if they are on extended missions without communication, if they can send it from outside the US.

UOCAVA lets covered groups get ballots electronically (email, fax, or web site) from all states. Some states transmit ballots electronically to other groups.

Twenty states require ballots to be returned by mail.

Four states allow ballot submission through secure web sites: AZ, CO (if needed), MO, and WV. In 2019-2020 researchers found insecurities in online voting systems used for UOCAVA from Voatz and Democracy Live.

The four states allowing online voting and the remaining 27 states have a mix of rules allowing email or fax to return ballots: AK, CA, DE, DC, FL, HI, IN, IA, KS, LA, ME, MA, MS, MT, NE, NV, NJ, NM, NC, MD, OK, OR, RI, SC, TX (for danger, combat zones or space), UT, and WA.

Maine and Rhode Island tabulate all votes cast in elections based on rules set out by UOCAVA in a single total at the bottom of the states official election result reports (such reports are officially posted in a csv file structure document) instead of separately tabulating such votes in the same category as all other votes cast in their home towns.

Executive Order 12642

An executive order issued by President Reagan on June 9, 1988, designated the Secretary of Defense as the presidential designee responsible for administering the act and authorizes the Secretary of Defense to delegate the responsibilities under the act and executive order to any person or persons within the Department of Defense.{{Cite web |access-date=2007-12-03

The act was amended by the Help America Vote Act (2002) and the National Defense Authorization Acts in 2002 and 2005.

Relevance to District of Columbia voting rights

The Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act allows U.S. citizens to vote from overseas, even if they have permanently left the United States. Since these citizens are no longer residents of a U.S. State but maintain their right to vote, legal scholars have therefore argued that United States Congress also has the authority to grant voting rights to residents of the District of Columbia.

Relevance to Puerto Rico voting rights

The Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act has also been challenged in federal court by U.S. citizens living in Puerto Rico. Plaintiffs in the case of Igartua de la Rosa v. United States claimed that the Act is unconstitutional because it allows U.S. citizens who move abroad to vote in federal elections, but not if they relocate to Puerto Rico. The challenge was dismissed by the courts. However, in his dissent, Judge Juan R. Torruella argued that the United States Constitution neither denies citizens of Puerto Rico the right to vote for members of the United States House of Representatives nor imposes a limitation on the federal government's authority to extend federal voting rights to territorial residents under other constitutional powers.

References

References

1. Coleman, Kevin J. [http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RS20764.pdf "Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act: Background and Issues."] Congressional Research Service, 2014.
2. "Section 703: Nonprofit Standard Mail and Other Unique Eligibility". United States Postal Service.
3. [http://www.fvap.gov/vao/vag Federal Voting Assistance Program]
4. (2024). "2024-25 Voting Assistance Guide".
5. Rynerson, R. W.. (November 1970). "U.S. Election Night – 1970 – Berlin 1969". KLC Radio, Lewis & Clark College.
6. "52 USC 20306".
7. "52 USC 20303(b)(2)".
8. "Electronic Transmission of Ballots".
9. Zetter, Kim. (2020-02-13). "'Sloppy' Mobile Voting App Used in Four States Has 'Elementary' Security Flaws". VICE.
10. Specter, Michael A., James Koppel, Daniel Weitzner. (2020-02-12). "The Ballot is Busted Before the Blockchain: A Security Analysis of Voatz, the First Internet Voting Application Used in U.S. Federal Elections".
11. Halper, Evan. (2019-05-16). "The vote-by-phone tech trend is scaring the life out of security experts". San Diego Union Tribune.
12. Appel, Andrew. (2020-06-08). "Democracy Live internet voting: unsurprisingly insecure, and surprisingly insecure".
13. Parks, Miles. (2020-02-28). "States Expand Internet Voting Experiments Amid Pandemic, Raising Security Fears". National Public Radio.
14. (2 November 2010). "Astronauts beam votes home". CNN.
15. James, Kate. (2 November 2010). "Astronauts Cast Vote From Space Thanks to 1997 Texas Law". Gather.com.
16. (2007-03-12). "25 Legal Scholars Support Constitutionality of DC Voting Rights".
17. Román, José D.. (April 2002). "Trying to Fit an Oval Shaped Island into a Square Constitution: Arguments for Puerto Rican Statehood". Fordham Urban Law Journal.
18. [https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-1st-circuit/1545899.html GREGORIO IGARTÚA ET AL v. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ET AL (IGARTUA IV)]