AFRC helps Scott AFB exercise right to vote

The Airman & Family Readiness Center is now the new home to the Scott Air Force Base Installation Voting Assistance Office.

The Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, protects the rights of absent service members, members of the Merchant Marines, the Public Health Service, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and their voting-age dependents regardless of where they are stationed.

The Federal Voting Assistance Program website provides UOCAVA eligible voters a user-friendly tool to register to vote and to request an absentee ballot. Users simply click on their state of legal residence to obtain the state’s specific voting instructions and requirements. Many states now allow citizens to register to vote and to vote by absentee ballot by mail, e-mail or fax.

The FVAP website helps voters identify their state’s deadlines for registering and submitting absentee ballots. The website also provides information for separating active duty members and military spouses. Separating service members and their families are encouraged to complete a National Voter Registration Form to register as a civilian.

Voters are encouraged to update their contact information annually via the Federal Post Card Application available on the website.

The information provided on the FPCA helps election officials to determine whether state-specific voter registration requirements are met, which materials voters need, and where to send ballots.

Voters should follow up with their election officials or the IVAO office to ensure their FPCAs are received. Contact information is listed by state and county on the Web site.

The FPCA should be completed each year by Jan. 15.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt said, “Let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us. The ultimate rulers of our democracy are not a president and senators and congressmen and government officials, but the voters of this country.”

People should exercise their right to vote.

For further voting assistance, please contact the Installation Voting Assistance Office at the A&FRC, at 256-VOTE (8683), or email them at vote-02-02@us.af.mil.

This story was originally published January 11, 2018 at 12:55 PM with the headline "AFRC helps Scott AFB exercise right to vote."