Location: Countrywide
Subject: Registering to Vote and submitting a ballot is fast, easy, and can be done from anywhere in the world!
Absentee Voting Week is October 1-8, 2022.
Be an Active Voter by taking the necessary steps to vote in the 2022 U.S. elections and participating in Absentee Voting Week!
HELP SPREAD THE WORD ABOUT OVERSEAS VOTING
In some states voter registration and ballot request deadlines for the November 2022 are as early as October 5th. Whether you are a first-time voter or have already received ballots and voted absentee in past elections, we recommend that you complete a Federal Post Card Application (FPCA) each year to ensure you are able to participate in elections as an overseas absentee voter.
If you have already completed a Federal Post Card Application (FPCA) in 2022 and requested electronic delivery of your ballot, you will be receiving your blank ballot or instructions for how to access your ballot soon if you have not already received it. If you are not sure about the status of your absentee ballot request you should contact your local election officials in the United States or check the status of your registration via your state’s voter registration verification website.
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.
If you have never voted while overseas before, it is not too late. The process is easy — just follow these steps:
- Complete a Federal Post Card Application (FPCA)
The online voting assistant available at FVAP.gov is an easy way to complete the FPCA. It will ask you questions specific to your state and tell you if electronic ballot delivery is possible. No matter which state you vote in, 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). Be sure to include your email address to take advantage of electronic delivery. The online voting assistant will generate a printable FPCA, which you can then print and sign.
- Submit the Federal Post Card Application (FPCA)
You can always get voting assistance from the U.S. Embassy Tashkent or drop off your completed voting forms and ballots, addressed to your local election officials, during regular business hours (0730-1630 Mon-Fri except local or U.S. Holidays). Envelopes will not be accepted after hours. Only appropriately packaged forms and/or ballots will be accepted.
If it’s more convenient for you, you can have a friend or family member drop off your FPCA at the U.S. Embassy in Tashkent on your behalf or you can send your FPCA or ballot directly to your local election officials via international mail or professional courier service at your own expense.
- Receive Your Ballot
After submitting your FPCA, most states allow you to confirm online your registration and ballot delivery selection. States are now required to send out ballots 45 days before an election (September 24) for federal office (President, U.S. Senate, or U.S. House of Representatives) to any overseas U.S. citizen who has completed an FPCA.
- Return Your Ballot
We recommend that if you plan to return your paper ballot to your election officials via the U.S. Embassy in Tashkent, please return your ballot by October 8 to account for transit times between overseas posts and local voting districts. If you wish to drop off your ballot, or have a friend or colleague drop it off for you, place it in either a postage-paid envelope or envelope bearing domestic U.S. postage addressed to your local election officials. You can download the postage paid envelope from the FVAP.gov website
If there isn’t enough time to receive and send back your ballot before the election, use the Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot (FWAB). It is a backup ballot you can use if you don’t receive your ballot in a timely manner. If your official absentee ballot arrives after sending in the FWAB, fill out and send in the official ballot too. Only one will be counted.
After you send in your ballot, you can check if it was received by your election office.
Instructions for returning ballots through the U.S. Embassy in Tashkent:
· Place your ballot inside a postage-paid return envelope (available under “Downloadable Election Materials” on the FVAP homepage) or in an envelope bearing sufficient U.S. postage for delivery to the relevant local election authorities.
· Write the name of the U.S. citizen who is voting as the sender on the outside of the envelope.
· Drop off the postage-paid envelope at the U.S. Embassy’s consular entrance during regular business hours (0730-1630 Mon-Fri except local or U.S. Holidays). Envelopes will not be accepted after hours. Only appropriately packaged ballots will be accepted.
· Show your U.S. passport at the security check point at the embassy when dropping off ballots. Please note that all visitors to the embassy are subject to security screening and are not permitted to bring electronic devices, including cell phones, inside the facility.
· Note that it can take up to five weeks for mail to reach its destination if sent by an embassy or consulate via diplomatic pouch. Please submit forms and ballots accordingly.
· For group drop-off: In some cases, a private U.S. citizen or U.S. citizen group may collect FPCAs and deliver them to the Embassy on behalf of other eligible voters such as family members, as long as each FPCA is in its own U.S. postage-paid envelope. Please contact the embassy in advance at VoteTashkent@state.gov to make a special appointment for this.
Researching the Candidates and Issues: Online Resources. Go to the FVAP links page for helpful resources to 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 on-line. You can also read national and hometown newspapers on-line, or search the internet to locate articles and information. For information about election dates and deadlines, subscribe to FVAP’s Voting Alerts (vote@fvap.gov). FVAP also shares Voting Alerts via Facebook (@DODFVAP), Twitter (@FVAP), and Instagram (@fvapgov).
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 U.S. the U.S. Embassy Tashkent’s Voting Assistance Officer at +99878-1205450 or at VoteTashkent@state.gov.
