Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act (MOVE Act)

The Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment (MOVE) Act is a federal law that is designed to improve the delivery of absentee ballots to members of the armed forces and Americans temporarily living overseas.

History

The MOVE Act was first introduced by the United States Senate on July 8, 2009 as Senate Bill 1415. The Act was reported favorably in Senate committee.
Senate Bill 1415 was later merged into National Defense Authorization Act of 2010 (H.R. 2647). House Bill 2647 passed the House by a 389-22 vote on June 25, 2010. The Senate approved the bill on August 28, 2009 by a 68-29 vote. President Barack Obama signed the bill into law on October 28, 2009.
The text of the MOVE Act is located in sections 575 to 589 of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2010.

Key provisions

Electronic delivery

All states are required to use methods of electronic communication for sending election information, voter registration, and absentee ballot applications.
Also, states are required to develop procedures for sending ballots electronically.

45 day requirement

All states would have to send out absentee ballots no later than 45 days before the general election. States with primary elections scheduled in August and September of 2010 have had to apply for a waiver or change their primary election date in order to be in compliance with the law.

Voter registration

Military and overseas voters would be required to re-register with their elections authority every year under the MOVE Act. Previous laws required military and overseas voters to re-register every two years^.


Eliminates Notarization requirements
Elimination of notarization requirements for overseas ballots in the states that still require this.

Text

This 45 day requirement is causing headaches for election officials and states with a caucus- convention process.  The problem is that many primaries, those held in August
or September, are quite simply too late for this new timeline.

Over Seas Vote Foundation 

 
The Utah June Primary makes the current caucus- convention process impossible.
The proposed plan for 2012 makes the state convention only 5 weeks AFTER the caucus,
leaving 29 counties to hold their conventions prior to the state convention.  (The date change
is necessary to meet the 45 day deadline prior to the current June Primary election date
in Utah)

In the past the state convention was in May approximately 60 days AFTER the caucus, with
the 29 county conventions held in the weeks between the caucus and the state conventions
in May.

In 2010 both the Republican and Democratic Conventions were held on the same Saturday
in May.