Counting Those Who Count

Most Washingtonians got their ballots either Saturday in their post office boxes or perhaps delivered to street addresses today.  Service members and other overseas voters' ballots were mailed or emailed long ago.

UPDATE 1:
Two precincts receiving incorrect ballots are so proximate to JBLM, you might want to check with the Pierce County Auditor for correct ballots. More here: http://tacomachamber.blogspot.com/2012/10/two-precincts-in-10th-cd-receive-new.html

UPDATE 2:
1,422 voters will receive a letter alerting them to the error and instructing them to return the correct ballot.

Julie Anderson, Pierce County Auditor, briefed the Chamber's Military Affairs Forum on UOCAVA (Uniformed & Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act) efforts by the Pierce County Auditor's Office.

There are 13,062 UOCAVA voters registered in Pierce County, 9,700 of which are assigned to JBLM and registered in Pierce County (others may be registered in Thurston or Yakima Counties).  That's from the 43,375 assigned soldiers and airmen plus 56,188 dependents who are potential voters. Of course, most reside (home of record) in another state.

Washington is in the Top Five (5th) states for numbers of UOCAVA voters, 56% of all UOCAVA ballots. 

Return ballots may be received anytime prior to election certification (65-day window), as long as they are dated on or before election day.  A postmark date is irrelevant.

Washington counted 99.1% of all its UOCAVA ballots returned - the bet of the Top Five states with the largest number of UOCAVA qualified voters.

Military Affairs Chairman Rick Stevens presented Pierce County Auditor Julie Anderson with a Chamber challenge coin recognizing Pierce County's exemplary job in insuring our service members and overseas voters get count too!

Getting the Camo Vote

The DoD's Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP) kicked off its training program geared to help voting assistance officers at military bases worldwide at a 2010 Election Year press conference Jan. 7.

During the kickoff press conference, the DoD focused on:
• voting assistance officers (VOA) providing a federal post card application to all military personnel by Jan. 15.
• using the FVAP Web site and the Voting Assistance Guide for help in completing the registration and ballot request process.
• timely completion of registration and ballot request.

Because the law has changed dramatically since last year, voters need to be aware that:
• voters will no longer automatically receive ballots from absentee ballot applications submitted in previous years.
• military voters should submit a new federal post card application at least each and every year, and every time they move, deploy or redeploy overseas. Overseas civilian voters should submit an application before every federal election.
• military and overseas voters should only use the Federal Post Card Application (available from voting assistance officers and at the Web site and NOT state registration and absentee ballot application forms; the FPCA provides specific federal rights and guarantees that the state forms do not.
• voters should use the Web site and check the Voting Assistance Guide to make sure they get it right.
• voters should watch the FVAP Web site closely to learn about the launch of new online tools that will assist uniformed service members and overseas civilians vote absentee.