T O O L K I T:
BUILDING R E L AT I O N S H I P S WITH LOCAL I N S TA L L AT I O N S Introduction Military members, their spouses and family members residing on or near military installations— domestic bases, camps, posts, stations, centers or other entities under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of Defense—can face unique challenges when voting and registering to vote. Many voters on domestic installations will vote absentee in a state different from the base location, some will want to vote locally near the base and may need assistance with the process; others will need support preparing to vote if deployed. Many of the voters on military installations are UOCAVA voters whose legal basis for absentee voting are established by the Uniformed Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA) of 1986. To engage these voters, the Council of State Governments (CSG) Overseas Voting Initiative (OVI) recommends election officials build relationships with relevant stakeholders on base, including servicemembers, spouses and civilian staff. The OVI created this toolkit to support election officials in building relationships with local installations, providing guidance and resources for election officials to reach out to installation voting assistance officers (IVAOs) and other relevant stakeholders, get involved in events and stay informed about deployments to provide timely registration and voting assistance. As highly mobile individuals, military voters often require special attention to plan for upcoming deployments and ensure they are registered to vote and have submitted a ballot request. Election officials can make voting more accessible to military voters by fostering relationships with the personnel at local military installations.