Absentee Ballot Deadline for Military/Overseas Voters Extended

ALBANY, NY (10/15/2010)(readMedia)-- The New York State Board of Elections announced today a 9-day extension in the deadline for the acceptance of all absentee ballots from US military personnel and non-militay US citizens living overseas for the State of New York for the November 2nd General Elections.

All military and overseas ballots must be postmarked by November 1, 2010 and must be received by the appropriate county board of elections by November 24, 2010 to be accepted and counted. This represents an additional 9 days added to the original deadline of November 15th.

New York State has also established a new webpage to allow military and overseas voters to immediately obtain their general election ballots by email in addition to the existing fax and mail options. To establish an account, voters should visit www.elections.state.ny.us and click on the link for "Military & Overseas Voters".

Once the account is established, the military or overseas voter can download their ballot immediately, cast the ballot and have it in the mail back to New York State the same day. By obtaining their ballot by email, military and overseas voters can receive their absentee ballots earlier than they ever have before. This will also allow more time for the ballot to be mailed back to New York for the election. Military absentee ballots must be postmarked no later than November 1st and received by the appropriate local county board of elections by the extended deadline of November 24th to be counted. New York will also accept Federal Write-in Absentee Ballots (FWAB) cast by persons outside the United States who are qualified to vote in New York. A full online tool is available to complete the FWAB at www.fvap.gov.

Federal offices on the general election ballot for November 2nd include all US House of Representatives seats in New York and both US Senate seats.

In addition to the State Board's website, www.elections.state.ny.us , military voters can visit the Overseas Vote Foundation website, www.overseasvotefoundation.org and the Federal Voting Assistance Program website, www.fvap.gov. All three websites are set up to make the absentee voting process seamless, easy, intuitive, and quick for military and overseas voters.

Also, FVAP has launched a 24/7 call center (1-800-438-VOTE) for military and overseas voters, voting assistance officers, and election officials to get help with voting. Individuals can also e-mail their questions in to vote@fvap.gov or use the online chat capability at www.fvap.gov to accommodate an easy flow of absentee voting assistance and information. FVAP enhanced its existing service by teaming with the Navy's Global Distance 24 hour Support Center to respond immediately to emails, calls, faxes and online chat from military members, their families and overseas voters worldwide. Toll-free numbers from 67 countries are listed at: www.fvap.gov/contact/tollfreephone.html.

Military and overseas voters may also call 1-518-474-1953 or send email questions to INFO@elections.state.ny.us.

To ensure that New York's military and overseas voters will have sufficient opportunity under Federal law to receive absentee ballots they have requested and submit marked absentee ballots in time to be counted for the November 2, 2010 Federal general election, the State Board of Elections, the New York State Attorney General's Office and the US Department of Justice agree that a Court order shall be entered providing that valid ballots from all military and overseas voters qualified to vote in the State that are executed and postmarked by November 1, 2010, and received by the close of business on November 24, 2010, will be accepted and tabulated in the final general election results.

There are just under 70,000 military and non-military overseas voters registered for absentee ballots in New York State. (20,172 military absentee voters / 49,468 non-military US citizens living overseas absentee voters.)