FVAP 2024 Post-Election Report to Congress
After each federal general election, the Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP) produces a Report to Congress with data about voters covered by the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA):
- Members of the Uniformed Services
- Their eligible family members
- U.S. citizens residing outside of the U.S.
In addition to voter registration and participation rates, the Report to Congress includes insights into the UOCAVA voting process and assistance provided to UOCAVA voters. These insights are compiled from FVAP's post-election surveys of active duty military members, overseas citizen voters, military voting assistance officers, and state election officials.
Highlights from the 2024 Post-Election Report to Congress
When adjusting for demographic differences between Service members and civilians (age, sex, education, etc.), the registration rate for military was 13 percentage points lower than the general population.
Turnout among the civilian population was at a record high in 2024. Among civilian voters with similar characteristics, turnout was 70 percent, resulting in a 24-percentage-point difference between military and civilian voters in 2024.
The 2024 "Overseas Citizen Population Analysis" (OCPA) conducted by FVAP estimated there were 3.3 million U.S. citizens living overseas in 2024, 2.2 million of which are of voting age (18+).
U.S. citizens living abroad consistently vote at much lower rates than U.S. citizens voting domestically in U.S. elections. In 2024, an estimated 11 percent of eligible overseas voters returned a ballot – nearly seven times fewer than the roughly 76.1 percent of domestic voters who did so. The OCPA indicates that a part of this voting gap is an effect of the real and perceived obstacles experienced by many overseas voters – an "obstacle gap" – and identifies the remainder as the "residual gap."
While some overseas citizens who didn't return their voted absentee ballots simply didn't want to vote, most across all age groups reported encountering obstacles and difficulties that prevented them from doing so. This was especially true for the youngest voters, who were almost 50 times more likely to have trouble completing the process than they were to report not wanting to vote.
Overseas citizens mostly relied on electronic transmission to receive their blank absentee ballots for the 2024 election, while Service members mostly relied on mail transmission. These results indicate that offering mail and electronic ballot return options is equally important when it comes to reducing the obstacles that UOCAVA voters might face when returning their ballots.
TRANSACTIONAL DATA FROM JURISDICTIONS PARTICIPATING IN THE ELECTION ADMINISTRATION AND VOTING SURVEY ESB DATA STANDARD
In 2024, absentee voters requested and returned ballots closer to Election Day than they did in 2020. This is likely to reflect the real or perceived reduction in required lead time accompanying growing electronic options and post-pandemic life.
In 2024, electronic and mail ballot return were used at similar rates among states that allowed for electronic ballot return. While more mail ballots were received by Election Day, electronic ballots began coming in earlier and tapered off more gradually than did mail ballots. As with 2020, ballot return flow remained relatively steady across both methods, with no spikes or surges in the run-up to Election Day.
See the full report for the 2024 Post-Election Report to Congress to learn about FVAP's activities supporting all UOCAVA voters.
See all previous volumes of the Post-Election Report to Congress:
FVAP offers a rich repository of information and data about military and overseas citizen voters, state election officials, and military voting assistance officers.
The State of the Military Voter and State of the Overseas Voter web pages provide insights on these groups' voting experiences from the most recent election year. In addition, the Interactive Data Center contains key data and trends over time for military and overseas voters, as well as state election policies.
Detailed information on each group for each election year is included in the technical reports on the Overseas Citizen Population Analysis and the Post-Election Voting Surveys of active duty military, state election officials and Voting Assistance Officers.
