Motivated to Serve
Although I didn’t know it at the time, I was destined to continue the family tradition of meaningful service to our nation. I’m the grandson to a World War II Army veteran, the brother of a Cold War Marine veteran, the son and stepson of Army and Air Force veterans from the Vietnam War, and the son of a Department of Defense retiree.
In my younger years, I was never politically active but rather a somewhat active observer in my family members’ electoral activities, which ultimately influenced me in wanting to become involved in encouraging Americans to vote. For instance, my mother would phone bank and knock on doors to help get out the vote, and my stepfather would help raise funds for voter registration events.
All of these activities would lead to the act of voting, of course, and the volunteers I first saw who were active in these processes would eventually inspire me to follow in their meaningful steps of both casting a ballot and urging other Americans to do the same. But first, I wanted to wear the uniform of a Marine and be the warrior my older brother was.
And so, immediately after graduating high school in Alexandria, Virginia in 1995, I set off for boot camp to begin my military enlistment journey in the Marine Corps. Not only did I begin life as a service member but I was an eligible voter for the first time, and I’ve never looked back.
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. I have voted in every election I was eligible to vote in because I believe deeply in the responsibility that comes with possessing U.S. citizenship, and that means taking action armed with a ballot and not just griping about policies being implemented.
Voting as a Service Member
To better understand the context of my military service, my Military Occupational Specialty, or, my day-to-day job while in uniform, was operating, maintaining, and repairing multi-ton diesel-electric generators, in addition to climbing telephone poles to work on elevated electrical connections. It was not glamorous work, but it was essential as power generation kept critical communications running, equipment operational, and off-the-grid, tactical missions possible. I and others learned quickly that trust and reliability matters. When something broke, I immediately fixed it—because my fellow Marines and Sailors depended on it.
I worked long hours keeping generators running in demanding conditions, often unseen and unrecognized. I mention this because I believe American democracy can feel the same way; meaning, the “machinery” of voting is mostly invisible when everything runs smoothly, but painfully obvious when it fails. The job I performed was certainly not “easy,” and I now have a VA-rated, service-connected disability as a result of that chapter in my life.
Yet, as an American whose voting residence was in Northern Virginia, the service member and voter roles I played felt like small gears in a massive machine that performed a critical task for a successful outcome.
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.
Moreover, the issues I became more concerned about as a young Marine were things like service member pay and GI Bill reform, and I voted accordingly. I did not foresee that thirty years later I would be advocating on a wide array of issues stemming from voting rights to veterans’ benefits and more. Nevertheless, voting was never a “hassle” for me while serving in uniform; I viewed it as a necessary task for the good of the whole, similar to having to pay to get an annual emissions inspection on my car for the good of public safety in my community.
I believed – and still do believe – that one of the beautiful things about our system of government is that the more electoral participation we have from our citizenry, the more legitimacy is bestowed upon our democracy. Casting a ballot is only one of the ways in which we as voters can peacefully express our consent.
Thankfully, technology has advanced enough to enable today’s military voters to cast a ballot much more easily compared to the 1990s. Back then, there was no online tracking, no email communication, and no easy way to confirm whether your ballot had been received.
The UOCAVA experience relied heavily on paper forms, mailed requests, and a great deal of patience. I remember receiving from my unit’s 1stSgt, a cardboard envelope containing a blank Federal Post Card Application (FPCA), the very same form used today for military personnel serving away from home to register to vote and to request a ballot. It was a heavy-duty piece of stationery that felt more like a piece of military equipment than a piece of mail. Nevertheless, I filled it out with the same attention to detail I used when troubleshooting a MEP-006A generator. If you made a mistake, your ballot might not arrive in time—or might not arrive at all.
Voting as a Civilian Veteran Overseas
After leaving the military, I continued to vote consistently as a civilian from 1999 to 2012, but rather in-person at my various polling places in Virginia, the District of Columbia and Illinois. Today, I live quite a different life as a U.S. citizen residing overseas—a journey that first began in 2013 and led me right back to the familiar UOCAVA process.
Despite the miles and the decades that separate me from “home” and my time in uniform, one thing has remained a constant: my commitment to exercising my rights as a U.S. citizen and respecting and promoting the democratic process.
For those unfamiliar with how to vote from overseas, it has proven to show its own set of challenges. Time zone differences, varying levels of postal reliability, U.S. consulate accessibility, printer availability, and inconsistent access to clear information are just some of the things that can discourage participation among UOCAVA voters. Yet, the principle remains the same: American citizens who live outside U.S. borders are still U.S. citizens.
As informal U.S. ambassadors who have the face-to-face discussions with everyday foreigners, we pay close attention to what happens back home as many issues continue to impact us and our U.S.-based families. We are still affected by U.S. laws, foreign policy decisions, and the overall direction of the country.
The average American located stateside is totally unaware that the millions of (non-military) U.S. citizens living abroad are not included in the decennial census. Our requirement to file an annual tax federal tax return to the IRS still exists. Veterans’ VA benefits and health care are severely limited and would be considered outrageous compared to the services available to veterans stateside.
But perhaps most importantly, being a UOCAVA voter continues to link me to the United States while I live overseas, and that continuity matters to me and my foreign-born U.S. citizen children.
Observations and Challenges to the Voting Process
Despite the progress of expanded voting rights for military and overseas citizens over the past few decades, there are currently serious threats pending in both Congress and in state legislatures. There is no doubt that the United States needs to better treat UOCAVA voters as an integral part of the electorate, not an “insignificant” administrative inconvenience. We are millions strong, yet we are frequently invisible in lawmakers’ decision-making.
For the Marine currently deployed in the Middle East or for the teacher working at a school in Europe, a ballot for a U.S. election is more than a right; it is a declaration of belonging to our citizenry.
However, despite having no credible evidence, some policymakers are of the belief that “voting irregularities” and “mass fraud” from the past election cycles justify making the voting process exponentially harder for military personnel and U.S. citizens residing overseas. Indeed, there are now efforts to require in-person voter registrations, and efforts to force relinquishment of citizenship.
There is a Supreme Court case currently under consideration on the question of whether federal election law supersedes states’ election laws on receiving ballots shortly after an election. If the Court determines that states’ grace periods for receiving ballots after an election is unlawful, this will have profound consequential implications for UOCAVA voters who did their civic duty but – through no fault of their own – would be denied a voice in our democracy.
Having lived overseas, I can confirm that Americans are often at the mercy of international postal systems and their reliance and timeliness. Additionally, as a Marine veteran I can state with certainty that deployed service members, especially those at sea, do not send and receive mail every day nor might they even have Internet access. The mindset of these national security professionals is on their mission, and the last thing on their minds is having to fill out a Federal Post Card Application, a ballot, or a Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot by certain deadlines.
When I served in uniform, voting was just one of many civic duties I considered as a meaningful action of being an active citizen. It was a commitment. Now that I reside overseas in a civilian capacity, voting in every election remains a strong commitment but it also demonstrates my consistent love of country and loyalty to American democracy.
Most veterans I know of are also patriotic individuals reliably engaged in voting, regardless of their party affiliation. We love the United States and took a formal oath with no expiration date. Lawmakers take a similar oath, which is why it is difficult for me to understand why any legislative decision-maker would want to make the process more difficult for UOCAVA voters and veterans who have made unfathomable sacrifices for our nation.
Why I Continue to Cast a Ballot
When we ask young men and women to serve the nation—sometimes at great personal risk—we owe them a voting system that works wherever they are. As a UOCAVA voter, I can only hope that the U.S. continues to both modernize and safeguard voting access for military and overseas citizens. This is not a partisan issue, and lawmakers should not treat our civic participation as an afterthought.
As a young Marine, as a civilian, and as a proud U.S. citizen residing abroad, I have voted from U.S. military installations, then at my local polling places, and nowadays from a foreign country. The UOCAVA population is small compared to the sheer number of voters stateside, yet, having the lived experience of both a military and overseas voter it is easy to see why the UOCAVA community is a critical component of the ongoing American experiment. We impact close elections across many states, and I, for one, am proud to be part of the “Margin of Victory” club.
The lessons I learned during my time in the Marines apply just as much to democracy as it does to generators. Democracy, like a diesel-electric generator, only works when it is properly maintained. From 1996 to today, I have never missed an election, and I do not plan on starting now. I am committed to keep the “generators” of democracy running.
Make no mistake: I’m proud to have served as an Active Duty Marine and then having transitioned to an “Active Duty Citizen.” I will dutifully cast a ballot in 2026 and every election I am eligible to vote in back in Illinois.
As nearly every aspect of life has a government aspect touching it, I encourage any potential UOCAVA voter still sitting on the sidelines to immediately register to vote and request your ballot. Whether you care about climate change or gun rights or anything else, have your say and fulfill Benjamin Franklin’s dream of citizens extending our democracy.
Authored By Michael Ramos, Jan. 2026
Michael Ramos is a Marine Corps veteran who served in the 1990s and currently resides in Melbourne, Australia. He worked as a congressional staff member in the 2000s, and has championed veterans’ issues and voting rights for the past decade. As a UOCAVA voter, he votes in Illinois and volunteers as a UOCAVA Program Manager for U.S. Vote Foundation and as a Voting Ambassador with the pro-military families nonprofit Secure Families Initiative.