At Overseas Vote, we want to help you understand the how and why of voting from abroad, whether you’re a U.S. citizen overseas, or an active-duty uniformed service member stationed away from your U.S. voting residence address.
Living, working, serving, studying, or traveling abroad – temporarily or indefinitely
- Whether you have a history of voting or have never voted before, or not, it doesn’t matter. The opportunity to cast your ballot as an overseas absentee voter is yours!
- As a U.S. citizen, you carry your right to vote with you wherever you are in the world.
Your right to vote is protected by a federal law called the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA)
- UOCAVA mandates the requirements, features and benefits of the overseas and military voting program across all states and territories.
- The overseas voting program has many special attributes intended to accommodate the challenges of voting from a remote location. Mail service, time zones, paper and envelope sizes—all of these are dynamic factors that affect the overseas and military absentee voting experience.
See the Special Features of the Overseas Voting Program
Overseas Vote is an initiative of U.S. Vote Foundation, a nonpartisan, non-governmental, nonprofit public charity.
Overseas Vote spearheaded the development and use of civic technology to adapt the voting process to the needs of overseas and military absentee voting, thereby transforming that process into a modern and accessible program for millions of voters around the world.
U.S. Vote Foundation's full suite of overseas and military voter services will help you register, request your absentee ballot, find election dates and election office contact information, and get your questions answered.
See the overseas voting tools and services available to you
*A sad exception is that not all U.S. states recognize the right to vote for children born overseas to former residents of those states if the children have not, themselves, established residency there. (Please consult this page.) As of now, only 38 states and DC allow “never resided” citizens to vote if a parent or legal guardian was last domiciled in the state.
Terminology – It’s simple and inclusive!
- “Overseas voting/voter” and “voting/voter from abroad” are identical in meaning throughout our site and used interchangeably.
- References to overseas voting/voters include absentee military voting/voters by default.
The overseas voting and absentee military voting processes are essentially the same.
- Overseas voting is for BOTH civilian U.S. citizens who are outside the U.S., and eligible, active-duty uniformed services members, their spouses and dependents who are stationed away from their voting jurisdiction—even if they are still within the U.S.
Learn the story of the founding of Overseas Vote