The Federal Voting Assistance Program exceeded congressional expectations in the 2012 election cycle by getting guidance to service members so they could vote by absentee ballot, a senior FVAP official said here, Jan. 24. David Beirne, acting deputy director of technology programs for FVAP, participated in a “MOVE and the Military” panel discussion at George Washington University during the seventh annual summit of the Overseas Vote Foundation and U.S. Vote Foundation. MOVE refers to the Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act, designed to help military people serving overseas and citizens who live abroad to vote in U.S. elections.
“The FVAP’s role (as outlined by Congress) in the MOVE Act is specific in terms of communicating directly to (service members) in the field,” Beirne said. He added that FVAP sent 90-day, 60-day and 30-day email voting notices to troops throughout the election cycle to instruct them on how to request, obtain and track their ballots.
“If there’s any one group of voters that’s familiar with the FVAP, it’s active-duty military,” Beirne said. “Anyone with a ‘dot mil’ email address got one of our emails. That gives us some level of (success in) our outreach and engagement. We not only met, but exceeded, our congressional requirement.”
Full Article: Program exceeds expectations in reaching absentee voters – Across DoD – Fort Hood Sentinel.