User:Vinny.Sriram/Voting rights in the United States

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The Overseas Citizens Voting Rights Act of 1976 was the first bill to enshrine the constitutional right to vote in federal elections into law for U.S. citizens living overseas. This bill also established uniform absentee voting procedures for U.S. citizens living overseas in federal elections. The right to vote in the federal elections in the state they most recently lived in before emigrating from the United States was extended to citizens living overseas, provided that they met all the criteria to vote in the federal elections when they resided in the U.S., only excluding the age requirement. To reduce voting fraud, the bill included provisions preventing overseas citizens from voting by absentee ballot in multiple states. [114]

The Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA) of 1986 consolidated and recodified the Overseas Citizens Voting Rights Act and the Federal Voting Assistance Act.[115] The UOCAVA requires that states and territories allow certain groups of U.S. citizens to vote in federal elections. This bill ensures that overseas citizens can register to vote and request an absentee ballot simultaneously through the Federal Post Card Application, making the process of voting overseas easier.

The Secretary of Defense is responsible for the administrative implementation of this bill; the Secretary of Defense has delegated the responsibilities of ensuring the safety and security of overseas voting to the Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP).[116] The FVAP works together with individual states to ensure that overseas citizens have full opportunity to participate in Federal elections. [116] While states can expand upon the voting rights of overseas citizens, they cannot pass legislation that reduces the rights conferred to overseas citizens under UOCAVA.[115]

Under UOCAVA, overseas citizens vote in the state that they last resided in before leaving the U.S. Additionally, 38 states and the District of Columbia currently have provisions that allow the children of U.S. citizens, who themselves are citizens, to vote in the federal elections in the state their parents last resided in before departing from the U.S.[117] Given that the federal act did not include the right for citizens that have never resided in the U.S, individual states must codify these provisions.

In 2009, the Military and Overseas Voting Empowerment Act ("MOVE Act") was passed, which amended the UOCAVA to establish new voter registration and absentee ballot procedures which all states must follow for federal elections. This Act included online forms of absentee ballot requests and voting mechanisms and expanded the ability and made it easier to vote overseas. [116]