Usually, I try to abstain from the topics of politics and religion because people tend to take both of those very, very seriously and personally. However, considering that carnival/election season is slowly coming to an end (because, let's face it, that's essentially what this election season has been...a huge, seemingly never ending circus...amusing for the first five seconds, but irritating and borderline frightening ever since), it is time to face the music.
The reason I am typing up this post is to hopefully serve as a friendly reminder to any and all members of the Armed Forces (including spouses and other family members old enough to vote) as well as regular US citizens who either happen to currently be residing in another country or will be come November 8th. Granted, hardly anyone actually reads this blog - I just pretty much type stuff and send it out into the ether - but maybe this entry will reach someone who needs it.
Anyway...if you're still residing in the United States, I believe you can request an absentee ballot directly at the DMV. If not, they should (in theory at least) be able to point you in the right direction. However, if you're already overseas, I would strongly suggest that you go the FVAP's (Federal Voting Assistance Program) website...and sooner rather than later because some States require the ballot request to be mailed in via snail mail, and if you're just a civilian and don't have access to the nifty military postal system, that could take a little bit longer depending on where your current address is at.
The first thing you need to do when you access the website is to select the State that your voting residence is located in. This is important because, as with pretty much everything else, each State has its own deadlines and requirements. For example, while Illinois not only has separate deadlines for military and civilians, but also requires one's absentee ballot request to have been signed (and presumably actually mailed off) by October 8th, Iowa has different deadlines depending on whether or not one is requesting a regular paper ballot (to be received by November 4th) or the digital/fax version (by November 7th).
There is a downloadable form, the FPCA (Federal Post Card Application), that one can fill out and send in to the appropriate election office. And don't worry, there's also a list of all of the election offices and the mailing addresses, so all you need to know is which county your voting residence belongs to. Unless you don't know that, in which case, I would suggest Googling it or phoning (i.e.: Skyping because who uses a phone to call people anymore?) a friend or family member.
Like I said before, I usually avoid talking about politics (because other people kind of take the joy out of it for me...which is pretty much how it goes with most things in my life...including my life), but we also have a civic duty to fulfill. And no, I'm not going to tell you who to vote for, that's not my job. Vote for Clinton, vote for Trump, vote for Ash from Evil Dead (my personal fave), that is entirely up to you. You're all adults (hopefully), legally speaking at least. The important thing, however, is that you do vote. Just please make sure it's based off of a somewhat informed decision and not because "It's like they're saying exactly what I've been thinking..." or "They're speaking from my soul..."
And with that, I bid everyone adieu. Again, don't forget to send in those absentee ballot requests!
No comments:
Post a Comment