Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act

The Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act (or MOVE Act) is Subtitle H of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010 (,, 123 Stat. 2190.) and was signed into law in the United States signed by President Barack Obama on October 28, 2009. The overall purpose of the law is to help military serving overseas and citizens who live abroad vote in U.S. elections. Most provisions apply to the November 2010 elections. A notable exception is the requirement (in Subsection E) that requires states to allow "a UOCAVA voter to enter his/her address or other information relevant to the local election jurisdiction and receive a list of all candidates for Federal office in that jurisdiction".

However, implementation of the act has been spotty, with only 15 states having fully implemented it. In California, only 15 of its 58 counties failed to comply with the law, resulting in military absentee ballots not being counted as they were received too late. Yet, 90 percent of absentee ballots sent to American civilians living abroad are returned and counted, compared to 2/3rds of absentee ballots mailed by overseas military personnel. In a report by the Overseas Vote Foundation released in January 2013, 21.6 percent of military voters did not receive their ballots, and 13.8 percent of military voters tried to vote but couldn't.