If you are a US citizen, a registered voter in Placer County and in the military or overseas and you wish to obtain a vote by mail ballot for the November 4, 2008 Presidential General Election, there are provisions to receive a vote by mail ballot. To do this you will need to E-mail a request to the Placer County Elections Division at vote@placer.ca.gov no later than September 5, 2008. In your request indicate that you would like to request your official ballot electronically and include your full name, Placer County residence address and date of birth. To assist us in directing your e-mail appropriately please type the following in the subject line: Request E-ballot 11-4-08.

* State law requires that we send a paper ballot to our military and overseas voters at approximately sixty days before the election. If you do not opt to receive your ballot via E-mail you will automatically receive a ballot via regular mail.

Once the Elections Division receives your request we will E-mail you an official ballot in PDF format so you can print it out and then cast your vote. After you have voted your ballot, immediately mail or fax it back to the Placer County Elections Division (530-886-5682) (you may need to dial an international access code if you are dialing from another country). Along with the ballot you will receive an “Oath of Voter” statement. The statement signed by the voter acknowledges that by returning the voted ballot via fax transmission that the voter has relinquished his/her right to a secret ballot, that you are a resident of Placer County and a voter of the precinct. The ballot cannot be counted unless accompanied in the same transmission with the oath form and the voter’s signature.

The voted ballot and the oath of voter must be faxed to the Elections Division no later than 8:00 p.m. Pacific Time on November 4, 2008, or the ballot cannot be counted.

This program has successfully been used since 2002 and developed to avoid disenfranchisement of overseas military voters, their overseas spouses and dependents, and other registered voters temporarily residing abroad. Under normal circumstances, many of these voters have a difficult time obtaining, voting, and returning their ballots in time to be counted. For this election, the increased number of men and women serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere compounds this difficulty. We hope that by offering this service all those who are overseas will have the opportunity to vote.

** Definition of UOCAVA (Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act) voters: Citizens who are members of the Uniformed Services, merchant marine, commissioned corps of the Public Health Service, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the family members of the above and overseas citizens. Uniformed Services are defined as the U.S. Armed Forces, (Navy, Army, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard), merchant marine, commissioned corps of the Public Health Service, and the National Oceanic, and Atmospheric Administration and family members of all of the above. Overseas citizens are defined as citizens who reside outside the United States.

If you have any questions regarding this process please contact our office directly at (530) 886-5650 or via E-mail at vote@placer.ca.gov. Placer County contact information can also be found at the nonpartisan Overseas Vote Foundation (OVF). Their website address is www.overseasvotefoundation.org. OVF's website features a complete election official directory for all fifty states and US territories, an overseas voter registration/absentee ballot request wizard(RAVA) and a voter help desk.

For additional absentee voting information and on-line forms for uniformed and overseas citizens go to the Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP) website at www.fvap.gov.  

The FVAP website provides an overview of the FVAP as well as electronic access to many of the materials and publication provided by FVAP. In addition, it contains links to state government homepages and other sites with election information. The website is updated on a regular basis to provide the most current information and news for uniformed and overseas citizens. The web site also contains information on all FVAP initiatives, e.g., Get-Out-the-Vote Campaign, the Ombudsman Service, Electronic Transmissions (faxing) System, and the State Legislative Initiative Programs. Information and on-line forms such as the Federal Post Card Application (FPCA, SF-76) and the Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot (FWAB, SF-186) can be viewed or downloaded on the website.

You can also contact the Secretary of State's Web Site at http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/elections_mov.htm for more information.