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NEW YORK TO HOLD A SPECIAL ELECTION FOR CONGRESS MAY 24th, 2011

On Tuesday, May 24, 2011, New York will hold a special election for the 26th Congressional District, to fill the seat vacated by Representative Christopher J. Lee. The 26th Congressional District includes all or part of the following counties: Erie, Genesee, Livingston, Monroe, Niagara, Orleans, and Wyoming.

To determine if your legal residence is in the 26th Congressional District, enter your 9 digit US zip code at www.house.gov

Dear Friends and Democrats,

I want to share with you a few of the very encouraging results of the MOVE Act on the recent  2010 mid-term elections as published by FAWCO, the Federation of American Women's Clubs Overseas, with their partner Overseas Vote Foundation. Despite the lower turnout in mid-terms, the results show that we voters overseas had an easier time of it:

by Louise Meyers and Tony Paschall

Peter Wallsten, of The Washington Post, reports today that "newly empowered Republicans" in states such as New Hampshire, Wisconsin and North Carolina — expected to be battleground states in the 2012 presidential election — are pushing for new laws that would severely limit the voting rights of college students and African-Americans.

Many of you may remember the MOVE Act that we told you about during the mid-terms, the new law that came into effect in October of 2009 whose intent was to make the voting process easier for Americans who live abroad. It did so by removing notarization requirements, and by requiring states to make voter registration and absentee ballot applications available electronically. And very importantly, states must now be sure there is a 45 day window for the ballot "round trip."

All of this is good. But the MOVE Act did one more thing. It removed the former UOCAVA provision that your registration was valid for two successive Federal Election cycles. So your absentee ballot request is now only valid one calendar year. And this is why the Federal Voting Assistance Program or FVAP strongly urges all overseas citizens to register every year, preferably in January!

By Louise Meyers & Tony Paschall

We welcome everyone's help in getting out the vote this midterm election season.

But confusing and inaccurate information continues to circulate regarding voting registration that could easily mislead -- and possibly disenfranchise -- overseas voters. So your Voter Registration Team would like you to know that we are not responsible for any information concerning voting rights or procedures that is not posted on our webspace.

We want to thank you all for your understanding and cooperation, and to remind you once again how important it is that you register for the November elections as soon as possible.

As we announced earlier, the laws have changed and you cannot count on automatically receiving an absentee ballot from your state unless you request one this calendar year -- even if you voted in the 2008 presidential election.

By Louise Meyers & Tony Paschall

Last October, with little fanfare, President Barack Obama signed into law a bill that will speed up and simplify the voting process for overseas Americans. This important new legislation also means all overseas Americans must re-register to vote this year and every election cycle.

The bipartisan MOVE (Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment) Act sponsored by Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and co-sponsored by Sens. Bob Bennet (R-UT) and John Cornyn (R-TX), was written specifically to address problems often encountered by overseas voters: ballots arriving too late or not at all, burdensome notary requirements, and arbitrary state rules concerning nonessentials like ballot paper weight and size, that have made voting from abroad very difficult.

According to certain studies, a fourth—and perhaps as many as a half—of military and overseas voters were disenfranchised because of these obstacles in 2008.

The US Constitution stipulates that each state is represented by two US Senators. But how many US Representatives are there and what is a US Congressional District? And more importantly, which US Congressional District do you vote in to elect your US Representative?

• All American citizens living abroad who will be 18 years old on Election Day (1) are eligible to vote. You can even register to vote at the age of 17, beginning January 1 of the year you turn 18.
• You do not have to own property, have a current residence, or pay taxes in the US — or have any other ties to the US besides citizenship — to be eligible to vote.
• You can vote even if you have never registered to vote or voted before.