LIVE: House Committee Hearing on 'Serving and Voting: Oversight of the Federal Voting Assistance Program’

It's not lost on me as a veteran of the United States Air Force who did two overseas tours that while we are here today discussing how we can make it easier for active-duty military to vote, our troops serving overseas are serving our nation in harm's way on a daily basis. Now more than ever, it's important that we are doing all we can to support our troops who are putting their lives on the line for this country. I'm thankful for their service, and I am praying for their safe return home. Free, fair, and secure elections are the cornerstone of our democracy, and it's our brave service members that defend that right for all Americans. As the committee with oversight authority of the federal elections, it's important that we take a look at the laws and procedures in place for our active-duty military voters. More specifically, we'll be looking at the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, commonly known as UOCAVA, and the Federal Voting Assistance Program to provide oversight to determine if improvements are needed. UOCAVA, which was enacted in 1986, is the only federal statute that is solely devoted to protecting the access to vote for active-duty military, their family members, and other overseas citizens. UOCAVA has not been subject to significant congressional oversight in over a decade. The Federal Voting Assistance Program, or FVAP, is responsible for administering daily responsibilities of UOCAVA under the direction of the Secretary of Defense. In other words, the FVAP is responsible for helping our service members vote in their respective state and local jurisdictions. Both UOCAVA and the FVAP ensure that service members who want to vote have the opportunity to do so. According to the FVAP, approximately 950,000 active-duty military are eligible to vote under UOCAVA. However, not every active-duty service member registers to vote. During the 2022 election, 63 percent of active-duty military voters uncovered are covered by UOCAVA both in the United States and abroad successfully registered to vote. Unfortunately, an even smaller percentage of those who registered actually cast their ballot. In the 2022 general election, only 26 percent of active-duty military voters covered by UOCAVA cast their ballot for the election. However, in a most recent report to Congress, FVAP highlighted that active-duty military who sought assistance from FVAP were three times more likely to cast their ballot. In 2022, the FVAP distributed nearly 200,000 pieces of educational and outreach materials to voters at 105 military installations worldwide. Additionally, the FVAP responded to over 12,000 inquiries to its call center. While FVAP has made strong headway with boosting voter participation amongst UOCAVA voters, there is more that can be done. Every registered American citizen should have the resources they need to participate in our democracy. Our service members who put their lives on the line to defend that same democracy should not be an exception. I hope today we are able to find ways to increase turnout among active-duty military voters ahead of the 2026 general election. I thank our witnesses for being here today, and I look forward to having a robust conversation with all of you on this critical issue. Before I close my remarks, I'd like to highlight we'll be test piloting a new closed-caption technology during today's hearing. This technology was approved by the Subcommittee on Modernization and Innovation and will soon be available to all House committees. I thank our witnesses for being here today, and I look forward to our discussion. I now recognize the Ranking Member, Mr. Morelle, for five minutes for the purposes of providing an opening statement. Good morning, and thank you, Chairman Laudermilk and Chairman Stile, and thank you to our witnesses for being here today. The Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, or UOCAVA, is a critical component of our efforts to make sure every American, no matter where they live, has an opportunity to vote. The law provides protections for millions of voters, such as requiring states send ballots to voters at least 45 days ahead of federal elections, and the availability of a federal write-in absentee ballot, a backup ballot, essentially allows overseas and military voters to still cast their ballot in federal elections if their ballot does not arrive in time. And while UOCAVA is a good start, it is work to be done. According to the Pentagon, in 2022, and some of the statistics my colleague just cited, but they bear repeating, 15 percent of military voters reported that they either did not receive the ballot in time or the ballot never arrived, and the voter participation rate for service members was 26 percent, well below national averages. Additionally, the overall voting rate for overseas citizens in 2022 was an estimated 3.4 percent due in part or real to either real or perceived obstacles to casting a ballot from overseas. At an April hearing, we heard testimony about service members and their spouses never receiving their ballots, others paying out-of-pocket for a courier service to return their ballot from abroad when they could not access the mail system, and families stationed in Japan whose mail routinely takes six to eight weeks to arrive. And in addition, I spent a time along with Chairman Steyer in Vote Japan, and in Korea, and with Korea we met with members of the United States Army about the challenges they faced in receiving ballots. So we could and we should be working in a bipartisan way to improve access to the ballot for military and overseas voters. Instead, what we've had over the last couple of years is my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have advanced policies that severely hinder ballot access and would disenfranchise service members, their families, and millions of other overseas voters. The SAVE Act and the President's illegal anti-voting executive order would fundamentally disrupt American elections and severely impact the ability of military and overseas voters to vote. For instance, their agenda, their bills, and executive order would end mail and online voter registration. Their plan also requires voters to register in person at their local elections office, something common sense tells you many military and overseas voters cannot do. If you're stationed in Japan, it's going to make it really difficult for you to register at your local board of elections. House Republicans passed the SAVE Act despite overseas voters asking them not to and despite the fact that we repeatedly on this side of the aisle cautioned them that doing that would make it much, much more difficult, almost impossible for military personnel to register to vote. In April, I wanted to invite a witness, a military spouse currently stationed overseas who could have given voice to the experience of overseas voters and whose testimony could have easily facilitated. Unfortunately, House Republicans did not want to hear from her and they denied the request. I'm grateful to the witnesses here today. Thank you for your service to the country and to those who seek to vote from abroad. I hope we'd also hear from voters whose laws impact. Kevin Parik is the clerk of courts in Hamilton County, Ohio. He also served on the Ohio ballot board. He's also a JAG officer in the United States Army Reserve who has served overseas, a local official serving his community, and the elections process who has served his country in uniform. He would have made a great witness, would have added to the witnesses we have, which I'm grateful for. Again, my colleagues denied our request to have him appear at this hearing. I hope the committee can hear from him and others like him very soon. I think they have something to add and they're respectfully welcome. In over two years of being in the majority, this is the first hearing held by my friends focusing on military and overseas voting. The Votes Act, championed by election subcommittee Chair Laurel Lee and Congressman Maxwell Frost, is a bipartisan bill which would actually increase military voter access and we should move that bill forward. As I said in April, Democrats would happily waive this committee's notice requirements to call the Votes Act up right now to send it once again to the full House. So, we have put forward numerous policies that would increase ballot access and as always the case, there's never any proof for things like what the President has said about voting from abroad and overseas in the last election. There's never any proof of anything he says about the difficulties in doing it. So, let's focus on ways to improve access and I think we're happy to work in a bipartisan way to expand access for people and move the legislation forward. So, I want to thank the Chair I look forward to and I would like to, before I yield back, Mr. Chair, I ask unanimous consent to insert into the record a letter from U.S. Vote Foundation, Secure Families Initiative, Blue Star Families, the Association of Americans Residents Overseas, American Citizens Abroad, and the Federation of American Women's Clubs Overseas as well as a letter from the Vetter Voice Foundation urging opposition to the Save Act and outlining ways in which to improve barriers to the ballot box for overseas voters. Without objection. Thank you and I yield back. Without objection, all members' opening statements will be made part of the hearing record if they are submitted to the committee clerk by 5 p.m. today. Today, we'll have one witness panel. Both witnesses are from the Department of Defense. First, Dr. Liz Clark, Director of Defense Services Support Center who has provided testimony and will give an opening statement. Next, we have Scott Weidman, Director of the Federal Voting Assistance Program who is here as a subject matter expert. We appreciate you both being here with us today and look forward to your testimony. Dr. Clark, we have read your written statement and it will appear in the full hearing record. I now recognize you for five minutes for the purpose of giving an opening statement. Chairman Steyl, Ranking Member Morales, and distinguished members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to assess the Department's implementation of the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, or UAPAVA. This vital law ensures that our service members, their eligible family members, and overseas citizens are aware of their right to vote and have the tools and resources to successfully do so from anywhere in the world. The Department takes this responsibility seriously. With me today, I have Mr. J. Scott Weidman, the Federal Voting Assistance Program, or FVAP, Director. Mr. Weidman has been with FVAP for over 32 years. FVAP is the mainstay of our efforts to implement UAPAVA and prescribes the two standard absentee voting forms, allowing voters to communicate directly with their election officials to request, receive, and submit their ballots. We also work closely with state and local election officials who administer elections to ensure they understand their responsibilities under UAPAVA. Our focus is on ensuring that UAPAVA voters are informed, educated, and able to successfully vote from anywhere in the world. To do so, we rely on a network of voting assistance officers and the military services in the Department of State to help deliver that assistance. In the lead-up to the 2024 election, we trained nearly 3,000 voting assistance officers worldwide. They achieved their goals by educating voters at the local level and ensuring voters are aware of the FVAP.gov website, which provides clear, timely, state-specific, and accessible voting information. In 2024, there were nearly 6 million hits on the FVAP.gov website and more than 600,000 votes used the state-specific federal postcard application tool to assist them in completing the form before printing, signing, and sending to their state of legal voting residence. An online completion assistance tool is also available for the federal write-in absentee ballot, which serves as a backup ballot for voters who have not received a requested state ballot in a timely manner. There is extensive demand support from the military services to increase awareness and messaging regarding absentee voting. Annually, installation supports three voting assistance weeks. Armed Forces Voters Week around Independence Day, Military Spouse Voters Week in early August, and Absentee Voting Week in late September. These efforts extend information to family members on both domestic and overseas installations through displays, physical and electronic banners, and voter registration drives. Additionally, the military services provide voter registration and absentee ballot request assistance during each election cycle in high-traffic areas, such as at Military Family Readiness Centers, Morale, Welfare, and Recreation Facilities, Medical Facilities, Commentaries, and Exchanges. To enhance absentee voting awareness directly to the voters, we use targeted communication strategies on social media and through trusted stakeholder organizations. For example, in 2024, we had more than 340 million digital ads displayed, 35 million video views, and over 7 million organic social media content posted. The FVAP staff works directly with officials at the state and local level to ensure FVAP materials have accurate and up-to-date election dates, ballot deadlines, and election office contact information. We brief national and state election official organizations to ensure they understand their key responsibilities under UOPAPA, including the 45-day ballot transmission and electronic blank ballot delivery options, to ensure individuals have time to submit their ballot, and to notify voters if their application was denied. We also confirm with election officials that they understand the unique aspects specific to UOPAPA voters and that they, not FVAP, make the final determinations on voters' satisfying residency requirements, and that a voter's last address in the United States can be used for voting purposes while in the state. FVAP also provides ballot mailing envelope templates for use by election officials, which helps ensure election materials sent to UOPAPA voters are completely free. In addition, we actively work to improve UOPAPA advocacy voting processes through innovation. Congressional funding has allowed us to provide grants to states and localities to support that process, such as improving the electronic blank ballot transmission and the use of digital signature verification. In closing, Mr. Chairman, I thank you, Ranking Member Morales, and the members of this committee for your outstanding and continuing support of those who vote under UOPAPA protection, and for the men and women who proudly wear the uniform in defense of our great nation. We're extremely honored to be with you today, and we look forward to your questions. Thank you very much, Dr. Clark. Thank you both for being with us today. I thank Representative Laudermilk for his assistance in the open as a veteran. This hits close to home, I know, for him, but I think for all of us. I'll recognize myself for five minutes for the purpose of asking questions. I want to dive into the numbers and just stage set a little bit. We go back to the 2022 general election, the most recent midterm. According to the U.S. Census, approximately 69% of the voting age population was registered to vote, and of those registered, 52% actually voted. Then we go over to the UOCAVA side, active duty military voters in particular. According to FVAP, the 2022 congressional report, the registration rate was approximately 63%, a little lower than the national average, but only 26%, less than half, actually voted significantly lower than the national average. I want to use that as a stage setting and then kind of dive in here. How does FVAP retrieve data for its biannual congressional report? I'll start with you, Dr. Clark. Thank you for the question, Chairman. I'm going to ask Mr. Weidman to provide the specific data for that. That would be great. Good morning, Chairman Stout. After each federal election, we do a series of surveys of active duty military members, the voting assistance officers, voting election officials, and state election officials, and then in 2024, we did for the first time, we worked with the Department of Defense to survey the thousands of members of the FVAP. How much does it cost to run that survey and provide the FVAP congressional report? I'll allow either of you to answer as we bounce between. No, we'll take the cost further. Do you have an estimate as to what the cost is? I would like the number in the record, but do you know what the cost is or have an estimate as to what that cost is? I don't want to answer to the micro offhand exactly. It's right in the front cover of our report. Okay, I will track it down. Let me shift gears again. Do active duty service members face unique obstacles? Obviously, they do. What is FVAP doing in particular to make sure that people are voting and bringing up that percentage as we look out to the next midterm? So, Chairman Spauld, there's three major obstacles that can make the active duty voting process more difficult sometimes for military members, time, distance, and mobility. From the time perspective, we encourage all military members in January of every year to send in their federal postcard application form so that their local election officials are aware that they're not at home, that they need an active duty ballot sent to them. And then we also want them to take advantage of the 45-day mailing time. As you know, federal law guarantees the state will send the ballot to the military voters at the 45th day before the election. They can receive it electronically, so in their e-mail inbox, they can have that ballot printed out, vote it, and then get it mailed back and take full advantage of that. With our limited time, I appreciate that. With our limited time, let me just dive in. I just got the number pulled, $2.4 million for the report. That seems like a lot of money, but maybe something I'd love a little additional information on why it costs that much. I'm going to hold that. I just want to touch base on how you're coordinating with states and local election officials to ensure that ballots are reaching the right jurisdiction. How are you coordinating with state and local officials? So we work very closely with the state and local election officials from across the country, 55 states and territories in the state of Columbia. Right now, we're in full swing in preparation for the 2026 election. We have the Voting Assistance Guidebook, which contains the voting date, the regulations, rules, and deadlines for voters from every jurisdiction. And we also have the contact information, mail, phone, fax, and e-mail for all the jurisdictions in that book, as well as on the SFF website. And we ensure that all that information is accurate and up-to-date, so that when a voter fills out that Federal Postal Application Form and it's received by the election official, it'll have everything they need to process the form and get the ballot to the voter. Whose responsibility is it to verify the identity of the voter? Is that FVAP or is that the state? That would be the local election office who receives the Federal Postal Application Form. So the state's responsibility is still to confirm the identity of the individual. Correct. All right. No further questions. I yield back, and I recognize the Ranking Member, Mr. Morelle, for the question. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you again to the witnesses for being here. You know, we have advanced a number of ideas that would have increased access for military and overseas voters, ample notice and clear pallet, periods for ballot errors, online voter registration, in addition to the postcard, improvements to UOCAVA, taking on the President, sadly, as I said earlier, spreads all this myths and disinformation about voting abroad without any proof. But I'm curious, if a voter makes a mistake on their ballot and it doesn't arrive in time for them to have an opportunity to secure a mistake, particularly in those states that allow it, how do you work with voters to ensure that they have, one, the information necessary to cast a ballot and that they know of the requirements set forth by the various services? Thank you, Ranking Member Morelle. So we work closely with states. We have also a hotline that voters can call directly if they do get a notice from their state that there's an issue that might arise while that ballot request or if the ballot is being processed, so that we can call the state directly, provide information from the voter to the local election official, and perhaps they can work that out. Of course, timing is of the essence. Again, as I said, we encourage folks to start the process as early as possible, take full advantage of that 45-day window, and not wait right up until the day of the election to start the process or to make those calls. I mentioned earlier that the SAVE Act would end a number of things that would affect UOCAVA voters. For instance, they would no longer have the ability to mail in a postcard to register to vote. I assume you've taken a look at the SAVE Act, perhaps not, or the President's Executive Order. How would requirements such as that, how would they impact UOCAVA voters? Have you done any analysis? You would not be able to register any longer if you're overseas. Thank you for the question. We're aware of the SAVE Act as well as the Executive Order. I do want to just clarify, too, that the Federal Postcard Application Form, we do look at updating that every two years. Right now, we understand that the court case is under litigation right now, and we stand ready to change the form if then needed. But I did want to let you know that we do update that form every two years. But that form wouldn't be under the Executive Order. Well, and under the SAVE Act, there would be only in-person registration. So people couldn't, members of the military or overseas individuals, could no longer register to vote unless they went to their local office. I understand. For example, with the current legislation that we proposed from a departmental perspective, when that legislation comes back to us, we can go through a formal congressional protocol to provide a response to that. Right. Now we stand waiting to see what comes through and waiting for the court cases to. . . Yeah, no. But if they were paid, you agree with me that that would make it, I mean, have you read the plain English reading of the statute, or the proposed statute, that it would end online registration for overseas and military voters? The department remains committed to providing a formal congressional response once that legislation comes back. So I wanted to just take up, and I only have a minute or so left on my time, but it is striking to me that only 26 percent of military voters who are registered to cast ballots, I mean, that is really a small number and one that's troubling. The fewer than 4 percent of overseas voters who are non-uniform cast ballots, that is staggering to me. Like, when you look at that, you must think, we've got to get this number. I'm assuming, I hope, that that's your desire. Can you give me two things that you're working on right now that would dramatically increase those numbers? Yes. So, obviously, it's a voter's choice as to whether or not they want to participate in the process and whether they want to register and ultimately cast the ballot. I get that, but I think you'd acknowledge that 3 percent or 3.4 percent for overseas voters, there's clearly something else. I mean, it would be odd for overseas voters to choose at a 97 percent rate not to vote versus, you know, remember that my friend, the chairman, cited for people who are in the continental or live in the United States. So, we send out 90-, 60-, and 30-day reminder notices to all members of the military. That also goes out to the State Department channels, to the mascot messaging services, to overseas citizens who have registered with the State Department to say that I'm overseas living in a particular country. Those reminders go out monthly. During the election year, to say, these are your elections, these are the states that have... So, yeah, so I'm sorry to interrupt, and I've run out of time, but those are things that you currently do. There's no disrespect, but they're obviously not... I was curious as to what things you're thinking about right now that you can do to move that needle dramatically in the direction of more greater participation. So, again, you know, our purpose is to ensure that the voters have the understanding that they're able to vote under federal law for their federal offices and that they have the tools and resources to do so if they wish, but not to do anything to facilitate anything that would incur greater participation. We're not a get-out-the-vote campaign. I'll yield back. The gentleman yields back. Mr. Louderham, okay, is recognized for his bipartisan... Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you for being here today. Very important subject. When I was active duty, I made every effort to vote when I knew there was an election going on. It was very easy... Well, being overseas, there was a lot of help during the presidential election. There was a lot of attention going on, but I found it more difficult during midterm elections, which in Georgia, that's when I was in the floor election, and more specifically, local, county, and some state elections that may be off-cycle, and part of it was even knowing that a specific election was going on. Really, for those of you, is there attention lately from federal elections to active duty voting? Thank you for the question. If you haven't gone to the FF.gov website, I highly recommend it. It's a wealth of knowledge that's for military members, military spouses, as well as overseas citizens. It also has links directly to each state and then each jurisdiction. But to your point of increasing that awareness, our goal is to make sure that every UOPA that owns a voter has access to that and is able to link back to their particular state or their locality. But Mr. Weaver, can you provide us with more information on that? So, we have a requirement, and the services help us to ensure that every member receives a federal postcard application form either electronically or some sort of notice every January 15th of every year, so that's not just the even-numbered years, and then again in July of the even-numbered years. So, if the voter sends that form in to that state or local election office, they would get whatever ballot would come to them during that calendar year. All right. I appreciate that. And I can remember during the time that I was in Austin, our squad commander would send out something advising there at some election, is that something that you engage in? Did you get engagement by commanders, unit commanders, to interface at least to let the troops know that there is a postcard? Yes, through the military services, there is the entire chain of command. There's a service voting action officer for each service that we meet with monthly, and then each installation has an installation voting assistance officer as well as the brick-and-mortar voter assistance office, and that's typically like in the military or the family readiness center where families can go as well to get assistance as well as the military. Thank you. Director Weedman, while I've got this, from your experience, are ballots from military voters still aligned to voters from federal election officials? We facilitate the connectivity between that voter and that local election official, and then once the election official sees that, they're the ones who would review the ballots for all sorts of validity and all sorts of things. So you're taking it from the service member and delivering it to the local election office, right? The military postal service agency, when it's dropped off at a military post office on an installation, will take that and their extension of the U.S. Postal Service, and then they'll have that delivered to Chicago, and then from there it goes into the U.S. Postal Service. What steps will FFF take to ensure election officials get the help and assistance they need? So a person who is assigned as a voting officer does that job in a nonpartisan way. They're basically there to facilitate the process. FFF provides FFF.gov and the tools and materials. That local voting officer knows that installation, knows the circumstance they're in, whether it be a submarine or a port deployed, and then will help the voters to navigate the process locally. How would that fit in with, would you make that a certain state and election ID enforcement? Do you have to do an ID to be able to get that? Do you take in consideration of the local election office? So we work with the state and local election offices. This book, all the information we provide in here and on our website is signed off by the two-state election official in every state. We work with Blake Evans in the Secretary of State's office for Georgia to ensure that everything is accurate up to date. So when a voter fills this out, it will be accepted by the Georgia County, and the Georgia County will then be able to send that ballot out to the voter. Okay, thank you. Last question. Are you aware that you've run over a number of people who are bad actors, and that you've run over a number of people who are good voters? I am not. I got to get back to you. Gentleman in the back represents Sewell's Recognized Compliance Department. I want to thank our witnesses for being here today. As the ranking member over the election subcommittee, as well as the author of the John Robert Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, I think there's nothing more important and fundamental to our democracy than the right to vote, and ensuring that every eligible voter has an opportunity to cast a ballot, I think is top and foremost what you all are supposed to do with respect to our service members and those living overseas. So often I hear from my service members that they don't have an opportunity to cure any problem that may happen with the ballot because of timing, and then I also get a lot of complaints in my office that they don't receive the ballot in time. So I guess my question to you, Director, is what are you doing to work with the United Postal Services to make sure that service members and overseas citizens get their ballots in time? Thank you, Representative Sewell. So we work closely with the U.S. Postal Service, as well as the Military Postal Service Agency, to ensure that all of the materials that we provide have that postal condition, so it's posted free in U.S. mail. We also provide the ballot template envelope for state and local officials, so when they print those ballots to be sent out to the voters, those have that postal condition on there as well. Yeah, I know that the postage is free. It's just the timing of receiving it, and I get that the states administer their own elections, but we administer federal elections and want to make sure that folks get their ballots in a timely fashion. I don't know, Dr. Clark, if you have anything else to add about what we could be doing now to ensure that people get timely ballots, and obviously if there's a mistake, being able to cure that in a timely fashion. As Mr. Weidman mentioned as well, we have the federal write-in absentee ballot, so if there are challenges with the state, with the service member or UOCAVA eligible voter receiving their ballot, they are able to then submit the federal write-in absentee ballot as well. I think it comes down to ensuring that we're promoting that awareness and that education and that the military services and the information from the units are also taken into account, and that it's a priority as well. We've done a significant amount of work to make sure that we're promoting that awareness, making those tools and resources available, as well as trying to make it as seamless as we possibly can for UOCAVA eligible voters, and when Mr. Weidman talked about this voting incentive side, it has QR codes that take you directly to that state, but our goal here is to make sure that we recognize that voting is a personal choice. It is, but if you want to ensure that eligible voters have an opportunity to vote, and I understand the importance of informing them that elections are going on. Your role, obviously, I understand, is not to register voters, but it is to ensure that our service members and those who are eligible overseas have an opportunity to cast a ballot. I think that the FVAP has been through the changes to it that have been proposed in the court system as well as through the executive order of the president. I think that the federal postcard can be very complicated, and I know that that's tied up in litigation. Until that has been truly litigated, we're still practicing under the existing laws. Is that right? No, that's correct. It's a federal postcard application, and then our process, as I said, is we're ramping up to 2026. Part of that process is to review the form for changes. Have you received any complaints from service members or overseas about the postcard itself? No. Would you be the appropriate person that they would lodge those complaints to? Well, if it's something to do with the processing of the form or the layout of the form, they would come to us and let us know so that we could incorporate that into redesign, as we do every two years. If it's something to do with a person's rights being abridged, then they would go to the Department of Justice for that. Is the FVAP still committed to leveraging other governmental resources to keep all of the eligible service members informed of how they can exercise their right to vote? I, too, like the ranking member, am quite concerned that the percentage of voters that are overseas and their service members is around 26 percent, whereas in the United States, those that vote, it's about 48 percent. Both need to go up to more than 50, in my opinion, but is there anything that you guys are doing right now that would help in reducing that gap? So we look at the – we call it the UOCAVA gap, so there's going to be some folks that would not want to vote, but there's a small number of folks that may have wanted to vote but weren't able to. And those are the folks we try to target with our messaging through social media and whatnot to ensure, again, that they have that knowledge that they're able to vote, and that they have a link to FVAP.gov, and then once they get there, they click the button to say, register to vote here, and everything they need in order to register to vote in their state is provided to them, and then they can send that request directly to their county. Well, sir, obviously all of us are committed to making sure that folks get an opportunity to cast their vote who are eligible, and so whatever we can do, I'd be interested in making sure we can partner with you to make that happen. Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent to enter into the record two statements, one from the Secure Families Initiative, an organization that works on behalf of active-duty military families, and a second from the U.S. Vote Foundation, an organization that works on behalf of all overseas voters on the ways UOCAVA works for military and overseas voters. Thank you, sir. The gentleman yields back. The gentleman from North Carolina, Dr. Murphy, is recognized for five minutes. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you both for coming here today, and thank you for the contributions that are helping our service members and those abroad participate in the process of voting. I'm honored to represent three military installations in eastern North Carolina, totaling more than 50,000 active-duty service members, and we obviously want them to participate in the process if they want to participate in the process, so I appreciate you guys doing this. North Carolina is a popular destination for people moving to the U.S. In fact, it's sinking a little bit because so many people are moving here, especially on the Outer Banks. But, you know, many North Carolinians also choose to live abroad. So I appreciate what you guys are doing to help educate individuals through UOCAVA for the opportunity to vote, and I'm remiss I have not gone on your website, but I look forward to doing that today because it sounds like there's a great deal of information there. You know, to what Ranking Member Morelli said about only 3 percent of individuals voting overseas. That's amazing to me. Maybe they're in Bali and they just don't want to be bothered. I don't know, but that 3 percent does seem like a very low amount. Let me ask you this. You guys, what kind of educational materials are you able to provide to UOCAVA voters who are located near the embassy? And then for folks that don't live near the embassy in a lot of places. Thank you, Representative Murphy. Thank you. So we work very closely with the State Department, and they have the American Citizen Services Desk at every embassy and consulate, so that if an American needs a new passport or some sort of other service for American citizens, they go there to get that. And one of the things they do is provide assistance, voting assistance. So anybody behind that glass, an American citizen, will be able to get the same assistance that a voter would get from a voting officer in the military. They also post a ballot receptacle closer out to the street, so that a voter doesn't necessarily have to go in all the way through the security in order to drop off a ballot. We'll get the assistance if they've already printed out the form and printed it out. Of course, all of the materials that we print, from the guidebook with the form to the various wallet cards and whatnot, are also provided to the State Department. So if someone gets a new passport, for instance, they'll put the wallet card that says FF.gov in there, and then they'll be able to have that. But one key messaging point is that that mascot messaging I mentioned earlier, which is when you move to a country, you sign up to the Department of State and say, I'm living in this country, so that if there's a natural disaster, some of the reasons they may need to evacuate Americans, they can send a message quickly. One of the things they can do with those messages is send out voting messages. It sounds like y'all are doing a tremendous job, but I'm not quite sure what more you can do. You can lead a horse to water, but if people don't want to vote, they don't want to vote, and if they're overseas, maybe they like living in the centers at the end, and they identify more with the politics there than they do back home. But anyway, thank you. Let me ask you a couple other questions. As I mentioned, I have a lot of active-duty military that are oftentimes overseas. Can you talk about the FVAP, the digital presence, and how we're able to do that for turnout? How do we reach out to people? Yes, sir. So we have an outreach campaign. We take advantage of paid, earned, shared, and owned media, both in social media and online. We have efforts with the local election officials where we have outreach toolkits that are digital so that any individual that's with an overseas organization, a State Department person, or a military person can download those digital toolkits and then on their own. Do you think those have, you know, given the technology age, what trends have you seen? Do you think those make a difference? Are we still seeing the same trends in participation that we've seen historically? So the participation generally goes along with interest in the election. Part of the surveys that we do when we ask about what their individual interest was in the election as well as their participation, and you can see how it tracks over time. When the interest is high, the state is generally higher. But have those curves been pretty much identical over the last decade, interest and participation? You know, it just stands to reason, you know, people who live in the Bronx, if they have an interest back home, they're going to participate in something, especially in the presidential election. But I can see just like it does in the U.S. I'll end with that. Thank you for your service. You're doing a great job. I mean, I don't know how else you can get people to go to their homes and offer them a ride. But thank you for your service. I yield back. The gentleman yields back. The gentleman from Texas, Ms. Johnson, is recognized for five minutes. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you both for being here today. In April, my colleagues on the Republican side passed the SAVE Act, which further restricts married women, naturalized citizens, and our military members overseas from casting or exercising their voting rights. I want to specifically point out that this bill does not include any exemptions for our service members, and instead will require them to register to vote in person in the United States, creating a statistical, administrative, and financial burden. I proposed an amendment to allow folks to register to vote by mail, which in this country has been doing safely for decades, and that amendment was voted down by Republicans on this committee and again in the House floor. And this is very troubling to me. So I have some questions about when our service members enlist to serve in the military, are they automatically registered to vote? Thank you, Representative Johnson. They're not automatically registered to vote. However, they're given the tools and training to know that they have the opportunity to vote. Once they're enlisted, they're on active duty, and then they have that opportunity. So if they're not registered to vote at the time they're enlisted, then they want to register to vote. However, under the SAVE Act, they would be required to physically leave their station post abroad and fly to their home residential jurisdiction to register to vote. Thank you, sir, for the question. With the SAVE Act specifically, the Department of Defense has a record with the U.S. Department of Defense. I understand that, but we passed that law. We know what the law is, and I understand that you're not going to want to comment on it, but I'm trying to ask some questions about the practical applicability to that. So if under that law, though, what hurdles would a service member have to meet to get leave to be able to fly home and register to vote in their county if they wanted to exercise their right to vote? We'll have to take that for the record. Would they have to take leave to fly home? We'll have to take that for the record. I'm sorry, what? We'll have to take that for the record. So you're not going to answer my question? I mean, due to the breadth and depth of the legislation, the Department will take it back for the record. Well, my question is not taking it back for the record. My question is, what steps would a service member have to meet to take a leave of absence to be able to come home to register to vote? What's involved in that? Yes, ma'am, it's outside of my portfolio when we're looking at the entitlements for benefits to a service member talking about that. So, I'm just very troubled by that situation. The next question I have is, how many employees does SBAP currently have? And has this changed since January? And has the administration's federal hiring freeze impacted SBAP? We currently have seven employees, and we are able to carry out the requirements from their real job. Has your employees been reduced in force since January? Has that level changed since then? We have had a couple of our employees who have taken over. How many of your employees are in full-time or full-time employment? Three. And you have seven, so 30% of the workforce? Yes, ma'am. And do you need any additional resources or funding in order to carry out the requirements? Under the current resources and funding, we're able to carry out the requirements as well. Mr. Chairman, I ask that Mr. President present his record statement to Mr. Marshall Goldbeck, a Marine Corps veteran, former Voting Assistance Officer, and a CEO of Veterans Foundation, a non-partisan organization, a Marine veteran, and a military veteran. Without objection. Thank you for your time, and I will stop. The gentleman yields back. The gentleman from Ohio, Mr. Carey, is recognized for five minutes. I want to thank the Chairman and thank the Ranking Member. You know, one of the greatest privileges we have as American citizens is the right to determine the direction of our country every two to four years. The Great American Experiment, which was closing in on our 250th birthday, has proved that this right for all Americans, regardless of class, religion, race, or creed. However, many of our citizens who are overseas find it difficult to participate in the state and local and federal elections, particularly among our U.S. servicemembers. As a veteran myself, I find it critical that we give every opportunity for our military members to register for elections. That is why the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act and the Federal Voting Assistance Program are necessary to ensure the servicemembers who want to have their vote have the ability to actually vote. I'm going to ask you just a couple of quick questions. I'm the last one to ask questions, so Director and Dr. Clark, what metrics does the Federal Voting Assistance Program use to determine if the efforts to provide the opportunity for military and overseas voters to vote are successful? You can both go. Thank you, Representative Carey. So we look at the awareness of the program and the awareness of folks' ability to utilize the tools and resources available to them. We also ask the voting assistance officers how well the materials we provided, both the book itself and the online presence, if that was a useful tool for them and if we could get rates in the 90s of people finding it useful as they're delivering voting assistance. Let me ask you, because you've pointed to that book a couple of times, and I know that we on this committee have been trying to make sure that we modernize the way things are done. The online presence with the information that's in the book is readily available to everybody, correct? Correct, and it's up to date. This book is printed every two years because we want to make sure that we have something out there for folks who may not have Internet access or having a voting registration drive. They can refer to the book, but the online information is updated real-time. So you may have an election office in a particular Ohio County that changes their address, and we can get that updated on our website. So has FF increased its outreach and education to the U.S. service members overseas? We continually seek out new ways to reach out to folks that would fit and target folks directly, especially that 18- to 24-year-old voter. So let me ask the Director and Dr. How many early prior to an election are the ballots sent to service providers? How many are used for this purpose? So in the 2022 election, I believe there were 754,000 or 50,000, yes, sent out. In the 2020 election, 1.2 million ballots were sent out to an election overseas. And what's usually the timeframe for the service members to get those ballots? So depending on how to use it, when they use the form, they say if they want the ballots to be delivered to them by mail or e-mail or if the state has an online server that they can download it from. So that's the voter's choice on how they want to receive that. So the states have to provide the ballots 45 days before a election to the federal office. So they'll put it either in the mail or they'll put them online and send an e-mail to the voter saying, So historically, do you think this is enough time for a service member to receive and then cast their ballot and count it in time on election day? Based on the Military Postal Service Agency's recommended mailing date, 30 days is the maximum time for postal support shipments deployed overseas. So 45 days should suffice. All right. Well, I want to thank you both for being here today. I want to thank the chairman and the ranking member. And with that, I yield back. The gentleman yields back. We thank both of our witnesses for being here today on a really important topic. I appreciate your work in the area. I think there's also room for improvement as we work to get more members to participate in the election process. Members of the committee may have some additional questions. We ask you to please respond to those questions in writing. Without objection, each member will have five legislative days to insert additional material into the record or to advise and extend the remark. There's no further business. I thank the members for their participation. Without objection, the committee stands adjourned.