House Administration panel examines FVAP operations, low turnout among military and overseas voters

The House Committee on House Administration held a hearing titled "Serving and Voting: Oversight of the Federal Voting Assistance Program" to examine how the Department of Defense implements the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA) and to review participation, outreach and administrative barriers for active-duty military and overseas voters.

Committee members and witnesses concentrated on three central issues: persistently low turnout among UOCAVA-eligible voters, how the Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP) coordinates with state and local election officials and postal services to ensure ballots arrive and can be returned, and resource and staffing limits at FVAP. Chairman Stile and Ranking Member Morelli led questioning and highlighted the disparity between domestic and UOCAVA turnout rates.

The witnesses were Dr. Liz Clark, director of the Defense Services Support Center at the Department of Defense, and J. Scott Wiedman, director of the Federal Voting Assistance Program. Clark and Wiedman told the committee that FVAP administers implementation of UOCAVA under the Secretary of Defense and provides the standard absentee voting forms, guidance and a network of voting-assistance officers in the military services and at Department of State posts.

Wiedman and Clark offered numbers the committee cited during the hearing: FVAP estimates roughly 950,000 active-duty service members are eligible to vote…