Americans living overseas urged to register to vote

WITH the US presidential election race beginning to gather pace, the more than six million Americans living overseas are being urged to request absentee ballots.

The 2009 Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment (MOVE) Act provides ballots to registered overseas voters 45 days before the election.

And for the first time, all states will provide ballots electronically, either by email, fax, or internet download.

The non-partisan, Paris-based Union of Overseas Voters is urging people to register in time for the election taking place on November 6, 2012.

Tony Paschall, of the Union of Overseas Voters, said: "Ballots can only be transmitted in time if they are requested well in advance of the election."

The Union of Overseas Voters will be assisting US voters at Shakespeare & Company Bookshop, 37 rue de la Bûcherie, 75005 Paris, from 2pm to 5 pm, the first and third Saturday of every month through October.

Voters can also obtain a voter registration application and ballot request, officially known as a Federal Post Card Application (FPCA), online from the Federal Voting Assistance Program www.fvap.gov.