Dear U.S. Citizen in Mongolia,
To follow up on our message of 10 August 2016, U.S. Embassy Ulaanbaatar urges you not to wait to return your completed ballot for the 2016 election. Remember, U.S. embassies are not polling stations; same-day in-person voting is not available outside the United States. The majority of states require completed ballots to reach local election officials by the close of polls on Tuesday, 8 November. U.S. citizens who want to participate in the 2016 U.S. elections should already have returned their absentee ballots to their local election officials.
Never received your ballot? If you registered to vote and requested an absentee ballot prior to your state’s registration deadline, but have not yet received your ballot, complete and return a Federal Write-in Absentee Ballot to ensure that your vote reaches election officials by your state’s polling deadline. If your regular ballot arrives later, complete and return it, as well. Your Federal Write-in Absentee Ballot will only be counted if your regular ballot does not reach local election officials by your state’s deadline. Your vote will not be counted twice.
RETURNING YOUR BALLOT:
The final date to return your paper absentee ballot to your local election officials by Election Day via the free U.S. embassy pouch service is 20 October 2016. Any ballots dropped off after this date may not reach the United States in time for Election Day polling. If you wish to use the embassy pouch service, please place your ballot in either a postage-paid envelope, or an envelope bearing domestic U.S. postage addressed to your local election official(s).
The U.S. embassy pouch service does not deliver ballots all the way to state polling offices; the embassy merely delivers ballots to the United States Postal Service (USPS) for subsequent onward delivery. As such, please be sure to affix sufficient postage for domestic mail, otherwise the USPS will not deliver your ballot to your state’s election office.
All ballots should be dropped off in person during the embassy’s normal document drop-off hours, which are weekdays from 3:30 pm to 4:00 pm. To help ensure that documents are free of hazardous contaminants, we ask that you not seal your ballot in its envelope until you arrive at the embassy. For security purposes, we also ask all voters using the embassy pouch service to sign a tracking log book. You may ask a friend or relative to drop off your ballot for you.
Missed the U.S. embassy shipment deadline? If you miss the 20 October deadline, consider returning your ballot to the United States via an express courier service such as FedEx, UPS, or DHL; or send your ballot electronically, if allowed by your state. Ballots sent to local election officials via express courier service do not receive standard postmarks, so voters using this method should confirm delivery on or before November 8 prior to payment and shipment. Check your state’s voting procedures at www.FVAP.gov for guidance.
Returning Your Federal Write-in Absentee Ballot by Email or Fax. If you have previously registered to vote and requested an absentee ballot but it has not yet arrived, the following states allow voters to use email or fax to send signed, voted Federal Write-in Absentee Ballots to local election officials: Alaska (fax only), Arizona (contact election official first), Arkansas (fax only), Colorado, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida (fax only), Hawaii (fax only), Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana (fax only), Maine, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska (fax only paper copy must also be mailed), Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma (fax only), Oregon (paper copy must also be mailed), Rhode Island (fax only), South Carolina, Utah, Washington, and West Virginia. Review your state’s voting procedures at www.FVAP.gov carefully for guidance.
HELP SPREAD THE WORD ABOUT OVERSEAS VOTING. Please help spread the word to your friends, family, and colleagues that now is the time to start thinking about overseas voting. Consider posting to your Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or other social media account that you are an active voter and will be dropping off or mailing your Federal Post Card Application or completed ballot. Use #ProudOverseasVoter to help get the word out about voting.
Need help? You can get in-person assistance from our Embassy Voting Assistance Officers during Embassy Ulaanbaatar’s American Citizen Service information hours, which are every Tuesday afternoons from 4:00 to 5:00 pm. No appointment is needed.
Have Questions? Please contact our Voting Assistance Officer at 976-7007-6001 or via email at UlaanbaatarACS@state.gov. You can also contact the Federal Voting Assistance Program directly if you encounter issues with local election officials by emailing Vote@FVAP.gov or toll free by phone from many countries around the world.
Confirm your registration and ballot delivery online. Learn more at the Federal Voting Assistance Program’s (FVAP) website at www.FVAP.gov.
