The Federal government neither collects nor retains any personal information associated with these forms. The burden for collecting this information resides with the States. The Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA), 52 U.S.C. 203, requires the Presidential designee (Secretary of Defense) to prescribe an official post card form, containing both an absentee voter registration application and an absentee ballot application, for use by the States who have the authority to collect personal information as part of the absentee voting process.
The Department of War (DoW) requests emergency processing to revise the Federal Post Card Application (FPCA, SF 76, OMB 0704-0503) and Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot (FWAB, SF 186, OMB 0704-0502).
These immediate revisions are essential to the mission of the Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP) to eliminate voter confusion and ensure the forms strictly comply with the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA) and the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) of 2002. Specifically, the revisions clarify voter identification requirements and remove an inaccurate eligibility checkbox for citizens who have never lived in the U.S.
DoW cannot reasonably comply with standard PRA clearance procedures because the next Federal election is fewer than 90 days away, and UOCAVA requires States to transmit absentee ballots no later than 45 days before the election. Public harm (voter disenfranchisement) is reasonably likely to occur if the standard clearance time periods are followed. Therefore, DoW requests to bypass the standard public comment periods to ensure these legally compliant forms are implemented in time for the upcoming election.
US Code:
52 USC 203
Name of Law: Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that the collection of information encompassed by this request complies with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR 1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding the proposed collection of information, that the certification covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.