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Lessons from Overseas Military Voters

The USS America (LHA 6) in the South Pacific.
US Navy
The USS America (LHA 6) in the South Pacific.

Voting by mail is nothing new for military service members. Deployed worldwide at any of the nearly 800 foreign bases, military personnel are offered some exceptions during the elections. Some vote by fax from a battleship, and many sent their ballots weeks ago, after receiving them earlier than most voters, at least 45 days before the election. 

Host Anita Rao talks with military reporter Steve Walsh about how troops send in their ballots.

This year, ballots were sent automatically to citizens overseas if they voted in the last cycle, no request needed. If that ballot failed to arrive in time, voters could fill out a back-up blank write-in ballot for any election.

Candidates are vying for the attention of the 1.3 million active duty service members. But reaching the voters at remote military outposts can be difficult, and even troops stationed in the U.S. are likely not in their home state. Host Anita Rao talks about the effort to get out the vote in the military with Steve Walsh, a military and veterans affairs reporter for KPBS and the American Homefront Project.

Copyright 2020 North Carolina Public Radio

Military and Veterans Reporter, Norfolk, Virginia
Grant Holub-Moorman
Grant Holub-Moorman is a producer for The State of Things, WUNC's daily, live talk show that features the issues, personalities and places of North Carolina.
Anita Rao
Anita Rao is the host and creator of "Embodied," a live, weekly radio show and seasonal podcast about sex, relationships & health. She's also the managing editor of WUNC's on-demand content. She has traveled the country recording interviews for the Peabody Award-winning StoryCorps production department, founded and launched a podcast about millennial feminism in the South, and served as the managing editor and regular host of "The State of Things," North Carolina Public Radio's flagship daily, live talk show. Anita was born in a small coal-mining town in Northeast England but spent most of her life growing up in Iowa and has a fond affection for the Midwest.
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