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

30 MINUTE READ

September 15, 2022

Be an Active Voter by taking the necessary steps to vote in the 2022 U.S. elections and participating in Absentee Voting Week!

In some states voter registration and ballot request deadlines for the November 2022 are as early as October 5^th. 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.

Submitting your ballot

Many states allow voters to submit their ballots by e-mail, fax, or secure online portals. Please review your ballot instructions, visit FVAP.gov, or contact your local election office for your jurisdiction’s specific requirements.
If your state requires you to return paper ballots, you can use Austria Post priority international mail or an express courier service (DHL, UPS, FedEx).

Diplomatic Pouch service – October 8 deadline!

If you are in the Vienna area, you may drop off your ballot at U.S. Consulate Vienna for free shipment by Diplomatic Pouch! Your ballot will be sent by diplomatic pouch from Vienna to our U.S. sorting facility, then shipped by U.S. Postal Service to its final destination. For this reason, your ballot MUST be placed inside a U.S. postage-paid return envelope, normally included with your ballot, or in your own envelope bearing sufficient U.S. postage stamps. You can download and print a free postage-paid return envelope template at https://www.fvap.gov/eo/overview/materials/forms.

Drop off your ballot at:

U.S. Consular Section Vienna Parkring 12a (Marriott hotel building) 1010 Vienna, Austria Nearest metro: Weihburgasse (Tram 2), Stadtpark (U4), Stubentor (U3) Hours: Weekdays between 8am and 4pm. (Closed U.S. and Austrian holidays) No appointment necessary.Don’t forget to ask for an “I Voted” sticker!

IMPORTANT DEADLINE NOTE: Ballot must be dropped off at the Consulate by Friday, October 8 to ensure delivery by Election Day. Any ballots submitted to the Consulate after October 8 are at your own risk. Consider returning your ballot using an express courier service.
HELP SPREAD THE WORD ABOUT OVERSEAS VOTINGPlease 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:

1. Complete a Federal Post Card Application (FPCA)

Whether you are a first-time voter or have voted absentee in past elections, we recommend that you complete an FPCA to receive your ballot this fall. It allows you to register to vote and request absentee ballots for all elections for federal offices (presidential and state primaries, run-off, special, and the November general elections) during the course of the year in which you submit the FPCA. Local election officials in all U.S. states and territories accept the 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.

2. Submit the Federal Post Card Application (FPCA)

Most states will allow you to return your FPCA by mail, fax or e-mail. If it’s more convenient for you, you can have a friend or family member drop off your FPCA at U.S. Consulate Vienna, on your behalf (see instructions above) 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.

3. 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.

4. Return Your Ballot

We recommend that if you plan to return your paper ballot to your election officials via U.S. Consulate Vienna, please return your ballot to them 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.

Your Vote Counts

Many U.S. elections within the past ten years have been decided by a margin of victory of less than 0.1%. All states are required to count every absentee ballot as long as it is valid and reaches local election officials by the absentee ballot receipt deadline (differs by state).

Be an educated voter. Check out the FVAP links page for helpful resources that will aid your research of candidates and issues. You can also read national and hometown newspapers online, and search the Internet to locate articles and information.

Support from the Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP)

To receive information by email about election dates and deadlines, subscribe to FVAP’s Voting Alerts (vote@fvap.gov). FVAP also shares Voting Alerts via Facebookand Twitter.

If you have any questions about registering to vote overseas, please contact Embassy Vienna’s Voting Assistance Officer at VoteVienna@state.gov.

FVAP will be hosting Virtual Voting Assistance Hours every week until Nov 4, 2022. Our Voting Assistance Ambassadors will be hosting the Zoom meetings. These Voting Assistance Hours will provide the opportunity for voters to have one-on-one virtual discussions with voters in the Ambassadors’ time zones. However, any UOCAVA voter is welcome to join in order to get their voting questions answered.

Voters will be let into the meeting one-by-one in order to have a conversation with the Ambassadors in the order they log into the Zoom meeting.

In 2020, the Ambassadors were able to successfully assist voters from across the globe during the final two weeks of the election. This year, we have expanded to the hours below (links to the meetings included):

Sept 29, 12:00 CEST (Italy)/06:00 EDT: https://www.zoomgov.com/j/1606949328?pwd=cksvTHhmYzRhUEYvejZLTDhVbkxudz09

Oct 7, 13:00 BST (UK)/08:00 EDT: https://www.zoomgov.com/j/1607364582?pwd=V1pYTUlZUExGZXJRS2xJTEg4R21Ydz09

Oct 11, 12:00 CEST (Germany)/06:00 EDT: https://www.zoomgov.com/j/1603790037?pwd=WWR2RmZ0SUpOVGEwVnFkNlVkMW94Zz09

Oct 13, 12:00 CEST (Italy)/06:00 EDT: https://www.zoomgov.com/j/1606949328?pwd=cksvTHhmYzRhUEYvejZLTDhVbkxudz09

Oct 21, 13:00 BST (UK)/08:00 EDT: https://www.zoomgov.com/j/1607364582?pwd=V1pYTUlZUExGZXJRS2xJTEg4R21Ydz09

Oct 25, 12:00 CEST (Germany)/06:00 EDT: https://www.zoomgov.com/j/1603790037?pwd=WWR2RmZ0SUpOVGEwVnFkNlVkMW94Zz09

Oct 27, 12:00 CEST (Italy)/06:00 EDT: https://www.zoomgov.com/j/1606949328?pwd=cksvTHhmYzRhUEYvejZLTDhVbkxudz09

Oct 28, 13:00 BST (UK)/08:00 EDT: https://www.zoomgov.com/j/1609717799?pwd=bjBheGt5N3VZcGQ5d1dPck9JVk5odz09

Nov 1, 12:00 CET/07:00 EDT: https://www.zoomgov.com/j/1604781445?pwd=N3ArN1hPdmxnRXFsaGM4ZnZzN3p5dz09

Nov 3, 12:00 CET/07:00 EDT: https://www.zoomgov.com/j/1619665629?pwd=V2pMckZRaUc0VzlHSDl2d1lZcDRwQT09

Nov 4, 13:00 GMT/09:00 EDT: https://www.zoomgov.com/j/1607364582?pwd=V1pYTUlZUExGZXJRS2xJTEg4R21Ydz09