Photo By Senior Airman Katie Mullikin | Brian Griffith, Federal Voting Assistance Program representative, leads a voting...... read more read more
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ROYAL AIR FORCE MILDENHALL, England. – The Royal Air Force Mildenhall Military and Family Readiness Center’s Voting Assistance Office hosted a Federal Voting Assistance Program workshop for the tri-base area and Royal Air Force Alconbury here, recently.
The 2024 voting season has started and the voting assistance office is ready to help military members and families exercise their right to vote.
The VAO is developing their outreach for this year's election by hosting a FVAP workshop to help better equip voting assistance officers with voting knowledge and resources.
“People forget that while stationed overseas, they have the right to vote,” said Ashley Glass, RAF Mildenhall M&FRC installation voting assistance officer. “Even when they move around a lot as military members, they still have the right to an absentee vote.”
To assist in the voting process stateside and overseas, voting assistance officers are elected and approved by their squadron’s commander to act as a representative for their squadron.
“Voting assistance officers are a point of contact between the voting assistance office and the Airmen,” said Glass. “They are responsible to equip the Airmen with the knowledge and resources that they need to vote.”
The voting assistance officers receive online training where they learn how to fill out a federal postcard application and absentee ballots, find residency information and when to update it, as well as how to give guidance to Airmen and other U.S. citizens living overseas.
The goal of the workshop is to improve the ability, access and education of all qualifying overseas voters so they can easily cast their ballots for state and federal elections.
“We take voting for granted, especially when we are stateside because it's so easy,” said U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Ryan Bergeson, 100th Force Support Squadron manpower and organization noncommissioned officer in charge. “My goal as a voting assistance officer is to help everyone stationed overseas learn how they can cast their vote.”
The two-hour workshop is a requirement for voting assistance officers to attend after they complete an online training program. This year, 13 voting assistance officers from RAF Mildenhall, RAF Lakenheath, and RAF Alconbury took part in the workshop.
Brian Griffith, a guest speaker, flew in from the FVAP office in Washington D.C. to help provide training and guidance to the voting assistance officers. He gave them in-depth training on the process of absentee voting online and the federal postcard application, as well as how to update residential information.
“The workshop taught me the importance of knowing and updating your stateside residency,” said Bergeson.“It's the address connected to an Airman’s leave and earning statement or where you last registered to vote. If it isn’t updated or correct, it can hinder the voting process.”
As the election window approaches, the voting assistance office encourages all U.S. citizens overseas to reach out to their assigned voting assistance officers or go to the VAO to learn more information.
“My hope is that people are voting,” said Glass. “It’s really important because we have the right to exercise our ability to vote.”
The RAF Mildenhall Voting Assistance Office will host their next outreach event at the base Exchange on July 18, 2024.
| Date Taken: | 07.01.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 07.15.2024 07:14 |
| Story ID: | 476169 |
| Location: | ROYAL AIR FORCE MILDENHALL, SUFFOLK, GB |
| Web Views: | 49 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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