American Citizen Services

How to Vote in Elections from Abroad

We encourage U.S. citizens to visit the Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP) website at www.fvap.gov, the official U.S. government website for overseas voters. The website features an automated Voter Registration and Ballot Delivery tool that will assist with the vote-by-mail process.

Voters who have not yet registered to vote should request an absentee ballot using the FVAP website. Voters should also complete a new Federal Postcard Application if they have moved or changed their name since the last time they voted.

The local voting officials who received your registration should mail absentee ballots 30 to 45 days before the November 4 general election. Return voted ballot as early as possible. Be aware of individual state’s ballot receipt deadline, as well as any postmarking requirements.

Questions

Please contact the consulate serving your area for questions about absentee voting:

Complete coverage on the 2008 Presidential Elections, including background materials is available from the America.gov Elections page including Candidate Biographies.

Mailing Options for Voting Materials

Voters in Australia have a number of options for mailing Federal Postcard Applications, voted state ballots, and Federal Write-in Absentee Ballots to their local election officials in the United States. Mailing addresses for local election officials and state mailing deadlines can be found in the Voting Assistance Guide, available on-line at www.fvap.gov.

Air Mail: You may mail your Federal Postcard Application or voted ballot to the United States through the Australian mail system, with appropriate international postage. Mail to the U.S. takes approximately 6 working days.

APO Military Mail: APO mail to the United States takes approximately 3 days. If the consulate serving your area has an APO military mail facility, voters should submit their ballots no later than November 3rd, 2008 for APO mail. Ballots must be postage-paid or have first-class U.S. postage (42 cents).

Diplomatic Pouch: Diplomatic pouch to the East Coast takes approximately 6 days. Processing of mail at the diplomatic pouch facility in the Washington, D.C. area and onward delivery by the U.S. Postal Service to local election officials across the U.S. can take another one to four days. The Consular Section will place a date stamp and seal on your ballot as evidence of the date and location from which the ballot was mailed. However, this is not a postmark. Voters should make every effort to submit their ballots to the U.S. Embassy/Consulate General no later than October 14 for diplomatic pouch mail.

Express Courier: Last-minute voters can use express courier services such as FedEx, UPS and DHL to send their voted ballots to all states and territories except Alabama. Express courier companies cannot deliver to post office boxes, so you will need to know the street address of your local voting official in the United States. Mail sent by express courier companies is not postmarked. Contact information for some local express courier companies follows:

FED EX: www.fedex.com or https://www.overseasvotefoundation.org/overseas/ExpressYourVote.htm Tel no. 132-610. From September 15 to October 29, FedEx will ship voted ballots from Australia to the U.S. for free. Once you have clicked to the above link for Express Your Vote, please follow the instructions you see online.
UPS: www.ups.com Tel. No. 131 UPS (877)
DHL: www.dhl.com Tel. No. 131-406

DISCLAIMER

Any reference obtained from this server to a specific commercial product, process, or service does not constitute or imply an endorsement by the United States Government of the product, process, or service, or its producer or provider. The views and opinions expressed in any referenced document do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government.

Last update: Thursday, 18 September 2008 GMT+1000

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