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Some part of the military has been voting absentee since the American Revolution.

That’s not a boast. It’s a fact that gets lost in the noise every election cycle, when pundits rediscover the military ballot and treat it like a novelty. In 1775, Continental Army soldiers fighting in New Hampshire were allowed to vote by proxy at a town meeting back home. The logic was simple: serving your country shouldn’t cost you your voice in it.

Two hundred and fifty years later, that logic still holds. The law has caught up… mostly. But the obstacles haven’t disappeared. They’ve just changed shape.

At a time when the voting rights of Americans living abroad are facing renewed legal, policy, and practical challenges, strong leadership and collaboration across the overseas voting community are more important than ever.

U.S. Vote Foundation and its Overseas Vote initiative are pleased to welcome Doris L. Speer, President of the Association of Americans Resident Overseas (AARO), to our Advisory Board. Her appointment reflects a deep alignment of mission and a shared commitment to ensuring that U.S. citizens abroad, and military voters worldwide, can fully participate in U.S. elections.

Presidential elections are held every four (4) years and the next one will be held on Tuesday, November 7, 2028. Primary elections and/or caucuses are held in each state to assist the major political parties in deciding who will be their candidate for the office of President. These run from January to June of the presidential election year.

U.S. Vote can tell you the type of primary held in your state so you can be ready ahead of time. Mark Tuesday, November 7, 2028 on your calendar, because the next Presidential Election will be here before you know it, and get a head start on your preparations today!

But you can vote this year, too! In the Midterm Elections - Read On!

Yes, if you are a U.S. citizen abroad you are eligible to vote in the 2026 midterm elections. During the midterm elections all 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and one-third of the seats (100) in the U.S. Senate are up for vote.

Whether you live overseas long-term, or are there temporarily studying abroad or on a work assignment, you are entitled to vote.

Be sure to get started as soon as possible to register and request your overseas ballot. The midterm election season starts with primaries in all states and finishes with general election in November.

We have good news. U.S. Vote Foundation is teaming up with the Secure Families Initiative and their Voting Ambassador Program to ensure that voters are informed, supported, and confident when they vote in U.S. elections. The 2026 election cycle is an opportunity for voters to turn trusted guidance into meaningful participation.

Midterm Elections Matter: military members, their families and overseas citizens are protected by the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, which gives this group of voters certain voting benefits no matter where in the world they live.

There is a persistent misconception that Americans who live abroad somehow leave America behind. Some may, but most of us do not. We bring America with us. You do not dispose of your citizenship by crossing a border. Your values, your civic identity, your sense of responsibility to your democracy travel with you. We are Americans wherever we go.

For decades, Americans abroad have been welcomed around the world as exactly who we are. We do not assume other identities; we represent our country simply by living our lives. In doing so, we form a quiet, global network of American presence—visible, engaged, and connected. This worldwide community is not a liability to the United States. It is an extraordinary asset.

And it costs the United States nothing.

When I cast my very first absentee ballot in the 1996 elections while stationed in North Carolina, and again in the midterm elections of 1998 from California, these actions reminded me that I was also a stakeholder in our democracy. I wasn’t simply fixing generators for our government—I was voluntarily participating in the selection of the people who ran it.

I have now been a UOCAVA (Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act) voter for a combined seventeen years – four as a service member, and thirteen as a civilian veteran residing outside the United States.

Timely ballot request by overseas and military voters, coupled with timely ballot delivery on the part of the local election officials, and extended ballot receipt deadline for ballots postmarked by the deadline is the formula that will assure that voters have time to vote, return their ballots and have them counted.

Overseas and military voters have every right to ask that they be given the opportunity to cast ballots in federal, state, and local elections and that those ballots should be counted, no matter where the service of our country has taken them.

I have successfully voted by mail as an absentee voter for over 40 years, which is essentially my entire adult life. This experience, combined with my travel to over 40 countries, has made me realize that absentee voting is an integral part of our American voting experience.

I am motivated to vote not only because of my military experience, but also because of my family’s history of service to others.

One surprising thing has happened along the way – we feel more committed and obligated to the American republic than ever before.