Embassy of the United States Panama

Under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA), the right to vote in federal elections can be exercised by U.S. citizens in every corner of the world.  Federal elections include primaries, as well as general and special elections for the President, Vice President, U.S. Senators, and U.S. Representatives to Congress. The UOCAVA applies only to federal elections. However, many states have enacted legislation whereby certain categories of citizens residing overseas can vote by absentee ballot for state or local officials. The same procedures for obtaining ballots are used for both local and federal elections.

The process is straightforward. You need to submit a Federal Post Card Application (FPCA) to the voting officials in the appropriate state in the United States. Once they have received it and confirmed your registration, they will send you an absentee ballot which you will then fill out and return according to the instructions provided along with the ballot itself.

The appropriate state is the state of your "voting residence." A voting residence is the legal residence or domicile in which you could vote if you were present in that state. The rules for determining that state depend on your status overseas.

• Military and Merchant Marine members, and their spouses and dependents, may register to vote in the state that the member claims as his or her residence.
• Civilian U.S. Government employees overseas, and their spouses and dependents, generally register in the state they claim as their legal residence.
• Overseas citizens (not affiliated with the U.S. Government) must vote in their last state of residence immediately prior to departure from the United States. This rule applies even if the voter no longer maintains any abode in that state nor has any intention of returning to it.
• American citizens who have never resided in the United States should apply to the state where their American citizen parent(s) last resided, although they should be aware that not all states will grant such a request. Please refer to the state instructions available in the Voting Assistance Guide (PDF - 2.6MB).

The Absentee Voting Process, Step by Step

Step One: Obtaining the FPCA 

You may obtain a FPCA at the Federal Voting Assistance Program website.  Please note that American Samoa, Guam, and Ohio do not accept the online version of the FPCA.

Step Two: Completing the FPCA  

The form comes with its own set of general instructions, and additional instructions are available in the 2011-2012 Voting Assistance Guide (PDF - 2.6MB). The Voting Assistance Guide contains up-to-date requirements for voting in each state, including the dates of the elections and the deadlines for applying for your ballot.  The FVAP Voting Assistance Guide and your local election officials have the latest information on your state's requirements.   

A few states require that the FPCA be notarized. If yours does, you may make an appointment to bring the form to the Embassy's American Citizen Services section where a consular officer will notarize it free of charge.

Recent changes to federal law eliminated the obligation for states to send out ballots for successive federal elections based on a single FPCA.  The validity of an absentee ballot request now varies by state, and may evolve over time.  In some states, one FPCA will qualify you to receive all ballots for elections for Federal offices in that calendar year only. As a result, we urge all U.S. citizens to submit a new FPCA in January of each year, and whenever you change your address, email address, or name.

Step Three: Mailing the FPCA  

After you have completed the FPCA, address it to the appropriate city or county office in the United States, affix appropriate U.S. postage, and bring it to the American Citizen Services Unit.  We will mail it for you.

As a general rule, you should try to send in your completed FPCA so that it reaches your local election officials at least forty-five days before the first election in which you are eligible to vote.  In most cases, this will provide time for election officials to process the request and send you a blank ballot.  If applying for both registration and an absentee ballot, you should plan to mail the FPCA earlier to allow time to address any complications that may arise.   FVAP and the Overseas Vote Foundation both provide information on registration and ballot request deadlines.

For general elections, states and territories will be required to send ballots to overseas citizens 45 days before the election except under emergency circumstances.  Mail-out periods for primary elections vary by state, and may allow significantly less time to vote and return a ballot.  Vote and return your ballot promptly to meet your state’s ballot receipt deadline.  Be sure to comply with your state’s procedures/requirements.

Step Four: Voting  

If all goes well, your local state officials will register you and send you a ballot which you will fill out and return according to the instructions you are given. In some cases, local officials may need to contact you in order to confirm your prior residency in the state and your citizenship before they will send you a ballot. Thus it is important to provide accurate contact information on the FPCA and to explain any unusual circumstances in the space provided.

If you have not received your ballot and your FPCA was mailed in time to be received by your local election official 30 days prior to the election, you may be eligible to use the Federal Write-in Absentee Ballot (FWAB) to vote for federal offices (President/Vice President, Senator, and Representative). The FWAB may be used only for general elections and is an emergency backup for voters who expect to be able to use the regular absentee ballot from their state or territory but who did not receive that ballot in time to vote and return it. The FWAB must be received by the local election official no later than the deadline for receipt of regular absentee ballots under state law. The FWAB is to be used to assist those voters who would be disenfranchised through no fault of their own, and is not designed as a replacement for the regular state ballot. You may obtain a FWAB online at www.fvap.gov. If you receive your ballot after you have submitted the FWAB, you still must submit the ballot. The ballot, and not the FWAB, will be counted.

For More Information:

The FVAP links page and the Department of State’s Absentee Voting Page have links to many helpful resources that will aid your research of candidates and issues of importance to you.  To get up to date voting information, email to subscribe to FVAP's Voting Alerts. FVAP also shares Voting Alerts via Facebook and Twitter.  Additionally non-partisan information about candidates, their voting records, and their positions on issues is widely available and easy to obtain via numerous websites; one such website is Project Smart Voter.  You can also read national and hometown newspapers on-line or search the Internet to locate articles and information.