Have a Voting Conversation with Friends Away from Home

About this event

### Millions of American citizens will be away from their official voting home in election season–working, studying or serving all over the world.

### They are eligible to vote, but they may not realize it.

#### Campaigns may not be able to reach them. As a result, many people who could vote may not know or may not try.

### The best antidote is a friend or family member who reaches out with timely information:

⏺Under federal law, absentee ballots are available to all service members and their family members who are on active duty away from their home voting precinct–anywhere, **in the United States OR abroad**.

⏺Ballots are also available to all civilians who are away from the United States.

They can request their ballots **NOW** at https://www.fvap.gov/ or https://www.votefromabroad.org/.

Many people simply don’t know they can vote. _A personal word can make all the difference!_

### Action Steps:

1 – On a piece of paper, make a list of everyone in your personal network who may be away from home on election day. Think about your neighbor who works out of town a lot, your old colleague who’s on assignment in Vancouver, your cousin in the Coast Guard. Everyone knows someone!

2 – Review your list. Pick out the people who need to hear from you. Who would value your call? Who would appreciate it? Who would not? Who might not hear from a campaign? Set aside time for a personal conversation with each person you select.

3 – Have a specific conversation about voting. Open the idea. Invite, encourage, inform. Don’t press, preach or dictate. Share the two sites above, which will answer all their questions about how to request and return an overseas or military ballot. Local elections offices can answer questions on other types of absentee voting. (If you don’t know something, it’s OK. Refer people to these sources, which are the authoritative places for answers and specific help.)

4 – Follow up in a week or so. Have they have requested, received and cast their ballot? (Some steps can be done electronically.) Work with them to resolve any problems, drawing on the help-sections of the sites above. If they’ve sent their ballot in, confirm that the local elections board has received it. Celebrate! This could be the first time they have ever voted from away from home.

5 – Ask them to ask their friends to vote. Don’t miss this crucial step: Your friends now know voting is a whole lot easier than they probably thought and they are a great resource to help others.

Five simple steps, but they could make a world of difference!

If you want more helpful information, visit https://www.buildingbridgesforamerica.com/vote-from-away.

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