Letter to Committee on House Administration for June 24, 2025 Hearing on "Serving and Voting"

June 24, 2025

The Honorable Bryan Steil

Chairman
Committee on House Administration

1526 Longworth House Office Building

Washington, DC 20515

The Honorable Joseph D. Morelle

Ranking Member

Committee on House Administration

570 Cannon House Office Building

Washington, DC 20515
 

Dear Chairman Steil, Ranking Member Morelle, and Members of the Committee:

We are writing on behalf of U.S. Vote Foundation (www.usvotefoundation.org) and our Overseas Vote initiative (www.overseasvotefoundation.org) to urge your continued attention to the voting rights of U.S. citizens living abroad and members of the Uniformed Services and their families. The Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA) is a cornerstone of inclusive democratic participation — however, its promise is constrained by low participation and persistent misunderstandings.

Founded in 2005 as Overseas Vote Foundation and renamed in 2015 as U.S. Vote Foundation, our organization has worked continuously for nearly two decades to improve the voting process for Americans who are absent from their stateside domicile at election time. We are the only nonpartisan, nonprofit, charitable organization that develops and delivers a complete suite of civic technology services for every type of voter — domestic, military, and overseas alike.

We pioneered the civic tech infrastructure that has made secure, accessible overseas and military voting a reality. Ours was the first organization to program and deploy a guided, federal-compliant online process for the Federal Post Card Application (FPCA), followed by automation of the Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot (FWAB).

The transformative reforms introduced by the Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment (MOVE) Act were the product of years of dedicated work — not just from our foundation, but through collaboration among the Department of Defense’s Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP), election officials, federal agencies, and trusted non-governmental partners like U.S. Vote Foundation. One of the most consequential innovations — online blank ballot delivery — was studied and affirmed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) as a secure method of facilitating overseas voting before it was adopted as part of national reform.

Today, we can state unequivocally that the UOCAVA program works. It is secure. It is dependable. It is broadly accessible. And there is zero evidence — not even a single case — of voter fraud perpetrated by overseas or military voters.

Yet, we face a persistent challenge: participation remains stagnant. While we’ve addressed many of the logistical and technical barriers that once plagued the process — late-arriving ballots, confusing state requirements, inaccessible information — these improvements have not translated into increased voter turnout among the overseas and military population.

Our post-election research, conducted following every general election since 2008, reveals that the UOCAVA voting process is smooth, timely and easy for the majority of voters who participate. We can deduce that the reasons for lack of participation are outside of the process itself and have more to do with misunderstandings. Many voters don’t know they are eligible. Others mistakenly believe voting from abroad is risky, insecure, or won’t be counted. These myths continue to depress turnout. We urge the Committee to review our published guide to assist voters with these concerns.

U.S. Vote Foundation calls on the Committee to take up the next generation of UOCAVA reforms — reforms that build on the program’s success to increase voter participation. Our recommendations are outlined in our reform agenda. Chief among them are automatic registration for uniformed services members, codification of the right to vote in federal elections under the protection of UOCAVA for all children born to U.S. citizens abroad, and a 45-day combined voter registration/ballot request/ballot form.

U.S. Vote Foundation and our Overseas Vote initiative are ready to support the Committee in any review or reform process. We offer both technical expertise and deep experience rooted in two decades of work with UOCAVA voters.

Thank you for your leadership and your commitment to protecting and strengthening our democracy — for all citizens, wherever they may be.

Sincerely,
                     
Mark Ritchie
Acting Chair
U.S. Vote Foundation                                                     

Susan Dzieduszycka-Suinat        
                                                     
President and CEO

U.S. Vote Foundation