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MOVE Act E-mail Ballot Instructions

Welcome Letter

Dear FPCA Voter:

Per your request and in accordance with the Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment (MOVE) Act, this correspondence includes your unmarked ballot for the upcoming election. This email also includes instructions for marking the ballot, instructions for processing the ballot, and a list of certified write-in candidates, if applicable.

If, after reading the instructions, you have questions regarding the completion or return mailing of this ballot, please contact your early voting clerk by phone at (512) 393-7310 or by e-mail at elections@co.hays.tx.us.

Note: Your marked ballot must be received in our office by regular mail on or before 7:00 p.m. on Election Day unless you will be submitting your ballot from outside the United States. If you are submitting your ballot from outside the United States, the ballot must be placed in delivery by Election Day and received by the county elections office no later than the 5th day after Election Day. If your ballot is not received by the applicable deadline, it will be rejected and will not be counted for this election.

Instructions for Processing the E-mailed Ballot

* Open the attachment designated as the unmarked ballot.

* Follow the ballot instructions provided for marking your ballot. To mark the ballot, use a non-erasable writing instrument, such as an ink pen.

* Place the marked ballot in the secrecy (or security) envelope, or you may use any envelope you have at your disposal. If you cannot provide a secrecy envelope at all, don’t worry, the lack of a secrecy envelope will not invalidate your ballot.

* Place the sealed secrecy envelope inside the carrier envelope. Note that the county also may have included the carrier envelope as an attachment with your emailed unmarked ballot. The carrier envelope is required and must be signed over the flap where indicated. If your ballot is not inside a signed carrier envelope, it cannot be counted.

* NOTE: If for whatever reason you cannot print the information on an envelope, you may print the carrier envelope information on an 8 1/2 x 11-sized piece of paper and wrap it around the sealed secrecy envelope; make sure to sign on the signature of voter line.

* Put your name and current mailing address in the upper left hand corner of the carrier envelope, if it has not already been pre-printed by our office. Also, put the county address in the middle of the envelope (again, if we did not do it for you) unless you plan to enclose it in the federal, postage-free envelope (see below).

* Place carrier envelope in the official, federal, postage-free envelope (if you intend to take advantage of the free postage and services provided with the use of this envelope). If the official, federal, postage-free envelope is not used, please affix proper postage on the carrier envelope.

* Mail marked ballot to your county elections office.

Instructions for Marking the E-mailed Ballot

* Make sure you follow the instructions provided by our office for marking the ballot and for voting for write-in candidates, if any.

Federal Write-In Ballot Process

* If you have submitted an FPCA by the state application deadline of the 7th day before election day and you do not feel you can return your ballot by the deadline, you are entitled to use a Federal Write-in Absentee Ballot (FWAB) to vote in federal elections only.

* The Federal Voting Assistance Program provides a FWAB wizard. According to FVAP, this wizard will seamlessly, intuitively, and easily guide a military or overseas voter through the state-specific requirements for completing the FWAB, including providing the voter all federal candidate choices.

Hays County