US Vote Blog

Approximately 7% of eligible American overseas voters returned their ballots in the 2016 General Election. That's right. Just 7%.

It's a tiny improvement over the 4% level last reported, which we also found quite disappointing. 

The Federal Voting Assistance Program's (FVAP) most recent Overseas...

To reach each and every voter living abroad, even those who are only abroad for a short period of time is our goal. US and Overseas Vote are eager to work with universities around the world to make sure all students studying abroad are informed of their right to vote while living overseas and able to access the simple tools on the Overseas Vote website to request their vote-by-mail overseas ballots.

The new Study Abroad and Vote! Toolkit is available to make the process of becoming an active voter overseas easier. The Toolkit materials explain the process and provide outreach banners to encourage students to spread the word.

Many overseas Americans are unaware that they can vote in the 2026 Federal Midterm Elections. Some don’t think their vote even matters, or that it is too hard.

You are eligible to vote: if you are a US citizen, 18 years old or older on Election Day, and eligible in your state.  Midterm elections in...

It has been an incredible journey, this first crowdfunding effort. Our Every Citizen is a Voter campaign proved itself as a compelling force which could drive a vision and action in many individuals. The Diary itself became its own adjunct project that brought in many fascinating and beautifully composed contributions. And I personally enjoyed keeping in touch all of you who are sustaining us.

I have learned, there is never a time when you have nothing to give. You may not have money, per se, but you always have the Currency of the Thank You. That is the chief currency of U.S. Vote Foundation and our Overseas Vote Initiative. There is more gratitude here than I could ever have imagined.

US Vote’s new Civic Data and Hosted Systems Products and Services website welcomes civic tech developers, voter outreach organizations, and elections specialists to review and request API access to the datasets and systems that US Vote offers. The US Vote datasets include Election Dates and Deadlines, State Voting Requirements, Local Election Official Contact data, and Voting Methods and Options. The new site also presents US Vote’s custom Hosted Systems Solutions, most widely used for overseas voter outreach.

According to the American Association of Persons With Disabilities (AADP), 35.4 million people living with a disability were eligible to vote in 2016. That’s about one sixth of all eligible voters. If you add in those of us who are family members or caregivers, that total jumps to 62.7 million eligible voters.

Organizations created for and by the disabled have done a spectacular job fighting against discrimination, barriers to physical access, and plain old stigma and patronizing attitudes.

In honor of their hard work and National Disability Voter Registration Week, here’s a practical guide for the election community to better serve a diverse and growing population of voters.

Ideas on how best to serve disabled veterans

Members of the Armed Forces understand that putting duty and country before all else requires sacrifice. For those returning from service with some form of disability, their sacrifices and that of their families follow them daily. Some have lost limbs...

Local elections are now the subject of intense national focus. The Congressional race for Georgia’s District 6 was being hotly debated by people who weren’t even residents of Fulton, DeKalb, and Cobb counties. Financially, GA-06 is now the most expensive House race in U.S. History…before AND after adjustment for inflation.

As of this writing, Republican Karen Handel, former Georgia Secretary of State, has been declared the newest Congressional representative for Georgia’s District 6, defeating Democrat Jason Ossoff 53% to 47%. Well over 259,000 ballots were cast in the runoff election, when the final mail ballots are tallied; the number is expected to top 260,000.

We do not have to accept low voter turnout as an inescapable reality of American politics. States across the nation – with voter-friendly policies and meaningful competition – are providing a blueprint for the nation on how to achieve voter turnout in the 70 to 75% range. That’s the key message of a new report, “America Goes to the Polls,” from Nonprofit VOTE and the U.S. Elections Project.

In the 2016 election cycle, voter turnout at 60.2% of the nation’s eligible voters, was the third highest for president since the voting age was lowered to 18 in 1971.