1. Unit Voting Assistance Officers (VAOs) maintain a supply of Federal Post Card Applications (FPCAs) to distribute to service members.
   
2. VAOs provide service members with accurate, non-partisan information and assistance regarding completing and returning the ballots correctly.
   
3. Service members must return completed FPCAs or OFPCAs (Online Federal Post Card Application) to their respective counties via mail or fax.
   
4. Counties process the FPCA/OFPCAs and return ballots to service members via mail.
   
5. Service members complete the ballots and mail them to their respective counties by the week of October 11, 2004.

Service members are encouraged to return the voted ballot via US Mail. In the State of Texas, however, service members on active overseas duty (or their spouses and family members) who are casting the ballot from designated combat zones are eligible to submit their ballots via fax. By Texas State law, blank ballots may not be faxed, but voted ballots returned by the service members may be faxed. In the State of Texas, the ballot may be submitted by fax until the close of the polls on the day of the election.

(Note: These procedures are valid for the State of Texas only. Not all States allow electronic submission. Please refer to the FVAP website for other States� laws on electronic submission: http://www.fvap.gov/pubs/vag/vagchapter3.html)

The fax numbers for the FVAP are as follows:
DSN 223-5527 (toll-free)
(703) 693-5527
1-800-368-8683

Or a list of international toll-free numbers may be found at: http://www.fvap.gov/services/faxing.html.

• When faxing ballots, voters must understand that they are waiving the right to a secret ballot and they must sign a statement waiving this right. This statement should read: "I understand that by faxing my voted ballot I am voluntarily waiving my right to a secret ballot."
  
• A cover sheet with the following information must be included so that the ballot can be correctly sorted to the county: signed statement mentioned above; name, telephone number and fax number of the sender; the name and SSN of the voter; and the complete destination address for the ballot (found at the website for the county information noted earlier). There is an official fax transmittal cover sheet available online: http://www.fvap.gov/pubs/vag/pdfvag/appendix_c.pdf