#fvap

If you are a US citizen living abroad, you can register to vote by mail here, and you should probably do so as soon as possible.

New coalition urges states to get their absentee ballots in time to troops, families, overseas voters

IAVA CEO Jeremy Butler joins Richard French to discuss President Trump’s handling of the military and other veteran sentiments prior to the election. New coalition urges states to get their absentee ballots in time to troops, families, overseas voters

Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America fights to improve the lives of post-9/11 veterans.

Source: Military Times by Karen Jowers

A…

Twitter is making it easier for users to get accurate voter registration information ahead of November’s presidential election

FEDERAL VOTING ASSISTANCE PROGRAM Twitter is making it easier for users to get accurate voter registration information ahead of November’s presidential election

Source: Business Insider, by Katie Canales

Twitter said Monday it is making it easier for users to find accurate voter registration information as the 2020 presidential election draws near.

When users search for keywords related…

Funky and fabulous tumblr-beasts, are you a US citizen not currently living in the US? Are you concerned about the 2018 midterms and/or the fraying of the fabric of American democracy, but unsure how to get involved? Here is what you do.

tl;dr per the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act * you can register to the vote in the midterms in the last state you lived in in the US. 

How does this work? 

1. Head over to FVAP.gov and select your last state of residence in the US. Scroll through to check out their specific absentee voter regulations. 

2. Fill out a Federal Post Card Application to register to vote and request an absentee ballot in one fell swoop. (May not be an actual postcard; New Jersey accepts FPCAs through email.) Your residential address is the last place you lived in the US. It does not matter that you (1) don’t live there anymore, (2) never plan to return, or (3) your apartment was actually full of raccoons/is no longer fit for habitation. 

2.5 Are you a US citizen who’s over 18 and has never lived in the US? Depending on what state your parent(s) lived in before they moved, you may be able to register in that state. Check out the complete eligibility list here.  

3. Receive your state and federal ballots in the mail at your overseas address. Fill them out, stick them back in the mail. Each state has different deadlines; some states (hey New Jersey!) will accept ballots by email and/or fax, but if you go this route, you have to remember to also stick your paper ballot in the mail. Paper ballots go back to your local election office: here are NJ’s. 

3.5 You have to mail the ballot in; there’s no same-day in-person voting where you get the little “I Voted!” sticker, at least if you’re an overseas US citizen. You can’t take your ballot to an embassy or consulate (as some embassy wearily writes, that’s not actually their job.) But YAY. YOU DID IT! 

4. Bask in the feeling of having moved the dial on truth, justice, and democracy a tiny bit, and then go watch cat videos, because that is what the internet is for. Write to your newly (re?)elected officials and let them know what their priorities should be in the next term. Volunteer. Make some art. Whatever you need. 

*Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, delightfully acronymed as UOCAVA, which sounds like it would be good on toast, has been around since 1986. Apparently it raises some funky legal questions with regard to the voting rights of citizens in both the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. (I am not a lawyer, ask a lawyer about that one.) 

New Post has been published on http://militaryspouse.com/spouse-101/2-simple-ways-to-vote-as-a-military-spouse/

2 Simple Ways to VOTE As a Military Spouse

For more info, visit FVAP.org!

An interesting audit of the SOS office from the Gant years

Tomorrow, October 30, the South Dakota legislatures Government Operations & Audit Committee (GOAC) will meet at 9 am in Pierre. I’ve done a post looking very briefly at all agenda items but one.  That one agenda item is the audit that was performed of certain areas of the Secretary of State (SOS) office. This post will look at that agenda item. Before I continue this post  I want to say…