A Brief History of Voting from Overseas and FAWCO

A Brief History of Voting from Overseas and FAWCO Americans living overseas have not always had the privilege of being able to participate in their country's democratic electoral process. The first law assuring us this right, the Overseas Citizens Voting Rights Act, was passed by Congress in 1975. It gave us the right to vote for candidates for Federal office (i.e., President, Vice President, Senators, and members of the House of Representatives) if we would otherwise be qualified to vote were we still residing in the United States. It was amended in 1978 to prohibit any State or local authority from taxing a U.S. citizen residing overseas solely because the citizen voted in an election for Federal office. In 1986, this Act was superseded by the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, which included all of the above provisions, and created the special Federal Write-in Absentee Ballot (FWAB). It is under this Act that we are currently voting from overseas.

In 1953 FAWCO launched a twenty-two year struggle to achieve voting rights for Americans living overseas. We have continued to work to improve and simplify the process, combining forces with other organizations abroad.

Since it was created to implement these Acts, the Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP), with headquarters in Washington, has been our most valuable ally. It is the FVAP which provides much of the inspiration and most of the materials that we need to run biennial overseas registration and get-out- the-vote campaigns.

The FAWCO Voting-from-Overseas Committee encourages all clubs to have a "Voting Assistance Officer" who can obtain a special kit from the FVAP, and is offered training at each Interim Conference. This committee also provides updated guidelines and timely memos to encourage voting from overseas by making the process as simple as possible. It is hoped that each FAWCO club will run a biennial campaign not only for its own members, but also for the larger US community it serves. Our mission today is to overcome the civic apathy that often accompanies a transfer overseas, to increase the civilian voter participation from overseas, and thus play our part in reinforcing democracy worldwide.

Kathy Webster
Chair FAWCO Voting-from-Overseas Committee
March 2004

[This short history could be used as a basis for an article in your club's monthly publication - or verbatim, if you wish. A more detailed account of this history, can be found in A Force in the Struggle for Overseas Voting. The original version can be found in the FAWCO FORUMS of Autumn (Winter) 1995 and Spring 1996.]