FAQ: Military and Overseas Voting

• The Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA) extends federal absentee voting rights to Service members, their eligible family members, and U.S. citizens outside the country. This federal law is implemented in North Carolina through Article 21A (Uniform Military and Overseas Voters Act) of the North Carolina General Statutes.
• UOCAVA covers U.S. citizens who are 18 or older and
  • Active-duty members of the Uniformed Services, Merchant Marine, or commissioned corps of the Public Health Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and their eligible family members; or
  • U.S. citizens outside the United States.

• Yes, as a military member’s spouse or dependent, you are eligible to vote absentee under the UOCAVA if you live with or accompany them. By North Carolina law, you and the military member are covered under the UOCAVA, even if you are not away from your voting residence.

• If you are living outside the country during an election season and will need to vote absentee, you may use the Federal Post Card Application (FPCA) to register to vote and request your absentee ballot.
  • Your voting residence will continue to be your last residence prior to leaving the United States to study elsewhere.

• Military/overseas citizens may use the FPCA to register to vote and request an absentee ballot simultaneously. It can also be used to update contact information.
• The FPCA allows you to request an absentee ballot for all elections in one calendar year.
• We recommend that you send in a new FPCA every January and each time you move while you are in the military or a U.S. citizen living outside the country.
  • Note: It will not affect your citizenship or ability to receive a ballot if you select “my return is uncertain” on the FPCA.

Fill out the FPCA online

• Not always. The Federal Post Card Application (FPCA) allows you to request an absentee ballot for all elections in one calendar year.
• We recommend that you send in a new FPCA every January and each time you move while you are in the military or a U.S. citizen living outside the country.

• The Federal Post Card Application (FPCA) deadline is 5 p.m. ET, the day before Election Day.

• No. Only the covered voter may request a military/overseas absentee ballot under UOCAVA.

• Election offices are required by federal law to send absentee ballots at least 45 days before a primary or election that includes a federal contest.
  • North Carolina sends ballots even earlier for federal elections:
    • 60 days prior to the statewide general election in even-numbered years.
    • 50 days prior to the date on which any other election is conducted:
      • Unless 45 days is authorized by the State Board.
    • 30 days prior to municipal elections.

• The military/overseas absentee ballot return deadline, which includes the Federal Write-in Absentee Ballot (FWAB) deadline, is 7:30 p.m. ET on Election Day.
  • Exception: If you mail the ballot, it is still timely if your county board of elections receives it by 5 p.m. ET, the business day before county canvass (if mailed by 12:01 a.m. your time on Election Day).
    • County canvass is 10 days after Election Day, except in September and October odd-year municipal elections, when it is seven days after Election Day.

• Military/overseas voters may use the FWAB (Federal Write-in Absentee Ballot) if there isn’t enough time to receive and return the ballot before the election.
  • It works like a backup ballot:
    • If your official absentee ballot arrives after you send in the FWAB, you may fill out and send in the official ballot, too. Only one will be counted.
  • You may use it to register to vote, request an absentee ballot, and vote for all federal, state, and local contests in which you are eligible.
  • You must obtain the choices for ballot items to write in your selections.
    • How to get this information:
      • Look up your sample ballot through the State Board’s Voter Search or
      • Contact your county board of elections.
    • You are not required to vote for all offices in any election.

Download the FWAB (PDF)

• The FWAB is an emergency backup ballot for military/overseas citizens who did not receive an absentee ballot from their state in time to participate in the election.
  • For more information, see the question, “What if my ballot doesn’t arrive in time?” above.

• Yes, on the Federal Post Card Application (FPCA), it must be an address in the United States for your request to qualify.
  • Placing an address outside of the United States in Section 2 of the form may automatically disqualify you.
  • You must provide the street address (not a post office box) of your voting residence in North Carolina. For more information about your voting residence, see the question, “What is my U.S. voting residence address and how is it used?” below.

• Your U.S. voting residence address is used to determine where you are eligible to vote.
  • For military voters, it is usually the last address where you lived in your state of legal residence.
    • Military spouses may align their voting residence to match their active-duty spouse’s address without having lived at that address.
    • The Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP) has provided a fact sheet to assist service members and their family members in understanding voting residence.
      • You may download it here: Voting Residence Fact Sheet: Military Members and Their Family (PDF)
  • For U.S. citizens outside the country, it is usually the last place you lived in the United States before moving outside the country. You do not need to have any current ties to this address.
    • What if someone else lives there now or the house was torn down?
      • Your election office only uses your voting residence address to determine if you are eligible to vote in that jurisdiction and which ballot to send you. Your election office will not send any voting materials to this address. This residence may remain valid even if:
        • You no longer own property or have other ties to that state.
        • Your intent to return to that state is uncertain.
        • Your previous address is no longer a recognized residential address.
    • What if I do not know my voting residence address?
      • If you cannot remember the U.S. address where you last lived, we recommend asking family members and checking old records. Your county board of elections office may also be able to help you further.

• You need a voting residence to vote by absentee ballot — even if you are only voting for federal offices.
• Your election office needs your exact voting residence address to determine which offices and candidates you are eligible to vote for — and to send you the appropriate ballot for your voting precinct.

• North Carolina allows citizens who have never resided in the United States to use a parent’s voting residence as their own to register to vote, and may request a military/overseas absentee ballot. Under Definitions (N.C.G.S. § 163-258.2.(1)e.), you must meet the following requirements:
  • Except for residency, you are eligible to register and vote in North Carolina.
    • See voter registration requirements: Who Can Register.
  • The last place a parent or legal guardian lived before leaving the United States is within North Carolina.
  • You have not previously registered to vote in any other state.

• Yes, you may register to vote and request a military/overseas ballot if you are:
  • A U.S. citizen living in another country who would have been eligible to vote in this state if you had been of voting age, and now would be eligible except for the state residency requirement.
    • You would use the last place you resided in North Carolina prior to your move as your residency address.
    • You are only eligible to register and vote based on your last address in North Carolina if your last place of residence before moving out of the United States was North Carolina.
      • For example, if you lived in North Carolina then moved to another state and then moved overseas from that state, you would not be eligible to register and vote based on your North Carolina address.