Members of the military have already downloaded nearly 650,000 federal postcard applications to vote in the Nov. 3 election, and traffic on a voting information website is double that of the 2016 election, voting assistance officials told the Washington Examiner Thursday.
“The current traffic to FVAP.gov for the 2020 calendar year is approximately twice the level of 2016,” Federal Voting Assistance Program Director David Beirne told the Washington Examiner.
Beirne could not say definitively if the increase was related to higher interest in this year’s election or a more robust information awareness campaign. Innovations including online events for service members and their families and “Voting Ambassadors” to help answer questions have been used for the first time this year.
An Aug. 31 Military Times/Syracuse University poll of 1,018 active-duty troops revealed that Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden edged out President Trump among members of the military, 41.3% to 37.4%.
Beirne declined to predict which way votes would go, but he said that coronavirus-related mail disruptions will not affect ballot delivery.
“Overseas military mail continues to move regardless of international postal disruptions,” he said. “Voted ballots returning from overseas military installations received expedited treatment upon entry into the USPS mail stream.”
Meeting the same delivery time as the 2018 election, FVAP anticipated that voted ballots from overseas service members would take 3-5 days and from other overseas citizens, 5-7 days.
The FVAP office said data is not yet available regarding voter registration in votes cast by mail this year.
In past elections, interest dipped among active-duty military in 2016 when President Trump faced Hillary Clinton compared to the 2012 election when President Barack Obama ran for a second term. In 2016, 68% of active-duty military registered to vote compared to 81% in 2012.
Some 46% of active-duty military voted in 2016, compared to 59% in 2012.
“We do not track mail-in ballots or estimate the number of voters expected to participate in a given election year,” Beirne clarified, underscoring that the office does not make predictions about likely voting this year.
The office did confirm that between Jan. 1 and Oct. 13, 2020, a total of 648,854 Federal Post Card Application packages were downloaded from its website.
In 2020, the federal program simplified its forms and focused attention on helping first-time absentee voters.
The pilot Voting Ambassador program used live social media events to inform members of the military, their families, and overseas citizens, who vote by dropping off their ballots at U.S. embassies and consulates in the country where they are located.
FVAP said all states met the legal requirement to send requested absentee ballots by Sept. 19, and no special exceptions would be made for ballots returned late for members of the military.
