Americans, be sure to register at www.democratsabroad.org. If you're on Facebook, join our group at www.groups.to/democratsabroadtaiwan.
The following message is a re-post from "AIT_Citizens", a Yahoo group for Americans living in Taiwan.
The American Institute in Taiwan(AIT) is transmitting the following
information through the AIT's warden system as a public service to
all U.S. citizens in Taiwan. Please disseminate this message to U.S.
citizens in your organizations or to other Americans you know.
On October 28, 2009, Congress enacted the Military and Overseas Voter
Empowerment (MOVE) Act. This legislation amends existing law regarding
overseas voting in federal elections, and should make voting easier for
overseas Americans.
New Procedures for 2010 Elections
Beginning with the November 2010 general election, and for all
subsequent general, special, and primary elections, states will be
required to mail out ballots at least 45 days prior to an election for a
federal office. This requirement may cause some states to select
earlier primary dates in order to comply with the 45 day mailing
deadline, or to request waivers due to special circumstances.
In addition to mailing ballots to overseas voters, the states will be
required, at the voter's request, to provide registration forms,
absentee ballot request forms, and blank ballots via fax or email.
However, each state's laws determine whether ballot requests or voted
ballots can be returned via fax or email. The new law prohibits states
from rejecting marked ballots based on notarization, paper size, or
paper weight requirements. The witnessing requirements of individual
states remain in place.
Overseas Absentee Ballot Requests
Effective immediately, states will no longer be required by federal law
to continue to mail election materials to overseas addresses (even when
they are determined to be invalid) for two complete general election
cycles on the basis of a single ballot request.
It will now be up to each state to determine how long to continue to
send out election materials before requiring overseas voters to submit
new ballot requests. This change, sought by local election officials,
should greatly decrease the volume of voting materials sent abroad to
addresses where Americans no longer reside.
State Department Recommendations
In light of these changes, the Department of State recommends that all
U.S. voters residing abroad request absentee ballots from their local
election officials at the start of each calendar year, and whenever
there is a change of address, change of e-mail address, or change of
name, by completing and sending in a Federal Post Card Application
(FPCA). To locate information on your specific state's requirements,
and to obtain an on-line version of the FPCA, please visit www.fvap.gov
. Voters may also pick up a hard copy of the
FPCA from any U.S. embassy or consulate. FPCAs may be mailed to your
local voting officials in the United States via international mail or
from any U.S. embassy or consulate. Many states allow U.S. citizens
overseas to submit the FPCA by e-mail or fax.
The Department of State strongly encourages all U.S. overseas voters to
provide email addresses or fax numbers on their FPCAs to enable local
election officials to transmit election materials in the fastest manner
available, which should then allow sufficient time for the return of
voted ballots. For information regarding your specific state, please
visit www.fvap.gov .
Emergency Ballots
The Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot (FWAB) serves as an emergency
ballot for the November general elections for federal offices, although
some states also permit its use for elections for state and local
offices. Beginning in January 2011, the new law allows use of the FWAB
for primary, special, and runoff elections for federal offices. Voters
who request an absentee ballot in advance of their state's ballot
request deadline, but who fail to receive an official ballot from local
election officials in time to vote, should complete the Federal Write-In
Absentee Ballot and send it back to local election officials in time for
it to be counted. An on-line version of the FWAB, together with
instructions for its use, is available at www.fvap.gov
.
Questions?
The Voting Assistance Officer at the AIT is also always available to
answer questions about absentee voting. To contact the Voting
Assistance Officer, call 02-2162-2014 or send an e-mail
to VoteTaipei@state.gov .
U.S. citizens living or traveling in Taiwan are encouraged to register
with the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT). Registration may be done
online and in advance of travel. Warden messages detailing the most
recent information for American citizens registered with AIT may be
found on AIT's website at www.ait.org.tw
Information on registering may be found at the Department of State's
Consular Affairs website at http://travel.state.gov
. US. citizens should consult the Department
of State's consular information sheet for Taiwan which is available
via the internet at http://travel.state.gov
U.S. citizens may obtain up-to-date information on security conditions
by calling 1-8888-501-4747 toll-free in the United States and Canada, or
202-501-4444 from overseas.
U.S. citizens may contact AIT/Taipei via email at amcit-ait-t@state.gov
or by telephone at 2162-2014 during
working hours or fax at 2162-2239 after hours or on weekends.
AIT/Taipei is located at 7, Land 134 Xinyi Rd, Sec. 3 Taipei, 10659 .
AIT/Kaohsiung may be reached by telephone at 07-2387744 and is located
at 5/F No. 2 Chung Chen 3rd Road, Kaohsiung. AIT's website,
http://www.ait.org.tw contains complete
information about services provided and hours of operation.
