The goal of the Overseas Voting Initiative is to improve the voting process for UOCAVA citizens. CSG helps FVAP augment its ongoing efforts to engage its stakeholders—especially state and local election offices—through a variety of research efforts involving OVI’s Working Group. OVI research examines critical areas for improving UOCAVA voting, including:
- Sustainability of UOCAVA balloting solutions
- Improving communications and connections between UOCAVA citizens and their election offices
- Making voter registration easier for UOCAVA citizens
- Considering how DoD digital signature capabilities can facilitate document signing by certain UOCAVA voters
- Examining how the ballot duplication process can be improved through transparent standard operating procedures and new technologies
- Identifying a data standard for reporting EAC EAVS Section B, or ESB, data
- Recommending critical changes to Section B of the EAC EAVS to streamline the survey and make it less burdensome to state and local election offices
Following are highlighted OVI reports:
2024
Building Relationships with Local Installations
This resource provides seven tools that can be used to build lasting relationships with military bases including an email template for outreach to the voting assistance officer assigned to the military base near you.
Best Practices for State UOCAVA Web Pages
This resource guide outlines a series of nine best practices for websites that support military service members, their families and U.S. citizens living abroad. These best practices highlight how states can ensure that their election websites provide the most utility for these voters.
Best Practices for Emailing Military and Overseas Voters
2023
Process Modeling Pilot
In 2020, The Council of State Governments Overseas Voting Initiative partnered with the Pennsylvania Department of State to better understand the processes and data that touch Pennsylvania’s military and overseas voters — who are eligible under the Uniform and Overseas Citizen Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA) — with the goal of improving data collection for the Election Administration and Voting Survey (EAVS) Section B Data Standard. This effort involved several meetings with state and local election officials in order to understand their workflow.
2022
Access to and Usage of Faxing by Military & Overseasa Voters
The year 2020 saw a rapidly changing environment and circumstances under which election officials had to conduct a presidential election. While navigating an increase in by-mail voting and conducting safe, socially dis-tanced, in-person voting, election officials also had to navigate continuous disruption to the global mail system.
2019
Examining the Sustainability of Balloting Solutions for Military & Overseas Voting
OVI Sustainability of UOCAVA Balloting Solutions Subgroup report summarizes efforts to better understand why UOCAVA ballot delivery and return solutions have not been as sustainable as intended and areas of future research in sustainable balloting solutions.
2017
OVI End of Project Report 2014-2017
OVI’s end of project report for 2014 to 2017 efforts along with recommendations from each of its working groups and pilot initiatives.
OVI EAVS Section B Working Group Report: Improving Military and Overseas Election Data Collection
OVI Election Administration and Voting Survey, or EAVS, Section B Working Group’s recommendations for streamlining and improving Section B of the EAVS.
OVI Technology Working Group Report: Using Technology to Enhance Military and Overseas Voting: Common Access Cards and Ballot Duplication
Members of OVI’s Technology Working Group’s recommendations for Common Access Cards and digital signature verification, as well as unreadable or damaged ballot duplication.
OVI Technology Working Group Report: Using Technology to Enhance Military and Overseas Voting: Use of Data Standardization and Performance Metrics
Members of OVI’s Technology Working Group’s recommendations for data standardization for election administration particularly within Section B of the Election Administration and Voting Survey, or EAVS.
2016
OVI Report on 2016 Military Ballot Tracking Pilot
A primer on OVI’s Military Ballot Tracking Pilot, including how it was implemented as well as the qualitative findings, technical findings and reports on voter satisfaction.
OVI Policy Working Group Report: Strategies for Engaging Every Voter
Members of OVI’s Policy Working Group’s recommendations aimed at improving engagement with military and overseas voters. The recommendations focus on Voter Communication, Voter Registration, and Improved Engagement.
OVI Technology Working Group Recommendations
Members of OVI’s Technology Working Group’s recommendations related to unreadable or damaged ballot duplication, Common Access Card and digital signature verification, and data standardization and performance metrics.
Data Migration Tool
This report explains the process by which election data can be transferred between election systems and how the election community can utilize this data to improve the election process for voters.
2015
OVI Policy Working Group Recommendations
Members of OVI’s Policy Working Group’s recommendations for easing the unique obstacles to overseas voting including improving voter communication and allowing online voter registration, among other recommendations.