THE DISPATCH · 3 MIN READ
You don't lose your vote when you ship. Here's how it works in every branch.
Today's Election Day. If you're in DEP, you might be standing in line at your old high school gym with a sticker on your shirt, and the last thing on your mind is how you'll do this from basic.
Next time around, you could be in week 5. No phone, no news, and an instructor two inches from your face about how you laced your boots. You can still vote from there, and the setup takes about 10 minutes before you ship. Below is where you vote from, how it works at basic and on deployment, and the one form that sets it all up.
GROUND TRUTH
Every service member votes by absentee ballot, from basic, a base across the country, or a ship on the other side of the world. One form handles most of it, and someone in your unit has the job of helping you fill it out.
01 / 04
Where do you vote from?
Your legal residence. For most recruits that's the state you lived in right before you enlisted, and federal law says moving on military orders doesn't take it away from you, whether you plan to move back or not.
One catch: your legal residence and the "home of record" on your enlistment paperwork aren't always the same address. If you're not sure which one you listed, ask your recruiter now, while it's a 30-second question.
DO THIS
Write down the exact address you'll vote from and keep it with your ship-day paperwork. The form asks for it.
02 / 04
What it looks like at basic
Every branch has voting assistance officers, right down to the training unit. In Army basic, trainees get a voting brief at reception and help with the one form you need (more on that in 04), and drill sergeants hand ballots out at mail call. At Air Force BMT, each squadron has a voting rep and the base runs its own voting office. The Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard work it through the unit voting assistance officer too. Whatever uniform you're in, your ballot moves by mail and someone in your chain is there to help.
You won't have internet to read up on candidates, so do your homework on the races before you ship. Nobody in your chain of command will tell you who to vote for, and the rules say they can't.
03 / 04
Deployed, or your ballot never showed up?
You've got three backups:
The backup ballot. It's called the Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot (SF 186). If the ballot you asked for hasn't shown up and the deadline is close, fill this one out and send it. Every state takes it for federal races, some take it for state and local races too, and a few let it register you at the same time.
Free tracked mail. Ballots mailed from an overseas military post office go out free by Priority Mail Express, with a tracking number.
A real person. FVAP answers at 1-800-438-8683 or vote@fvap.gov, and your unit voting assistance officer is usually a few doors down.
WATCH OUT
Every state sets its own deadline for getting your ballot back, and they don't all match. Check yours at FVAP.gov the week you ship.
04 / 04
The one form: The FPCA
The Federal Post Card Application (SF-76) does three jobs at once:
registers you to vote
requests your absentee ballot
tells your local election office where to send it
Send a new one every January and every time you move. Basic, then job school, then your first duty station can mean three moves in under a year, and each one needs a fresh FPCA. You can ask for your ballot by email, and many states let you send it back by email or fax, while some still want paper. By federal law, states have to send military ballots out at least 45 days before a federal election, so get your FPCA in early.
DO THIS
Fill it out at FVAP.gov while you're still in DEP and still have your phone. Ten minutes, start to finish.
You're signing up to protect everybody else's right to vote. Keep yours on the way through. Whatever you believe, your vote counts the same from a barracks bunk as it does from your kitchen table.
Appreciate you.
Coach Stebbins 🇺🇸👊
P.S. If someone you know is in DEP right now, forward this to them. Nobody brings up voting until the ballot's already late.
