The Importance of Voting As A Military Spouse

My husband and I had a date today. We usually have dates during the day when all the kids are in school so we don’t have to pay for a babysitter.

We decided to go vote! Ben will be starting school next week and the kids have off on election day so we figured that voting early would be a smart thing to do.

We both vote now in TN because that is where we live and we intend to be here for a while. As a Military spouse, I had been voting in KY until I switched it even though I only lived there one year. The local elections meant nothing to me. I wanted to have more of a say over what is happening locally. As a smart friend pointed out, when you have kids in school, it is a good idea to be able to vote in that area.

This November we get to vote for mayor and I am excited about that. I actually have an option about it because I am actually voting where I live. It is nice!

I know this isn’t something all Military members and spouses decide to do. A lot of people have ties back home either to their state or hometown. As much as I love California, I haven’t lived there since 2005 so I really don’t want to be voting there either.

After every election, there is always a lot of complaining. Not everyone wins so that is expected. But I wonder, how many of those people voted? How many times do we hear about an issue as a Military spouse and get frustrated over what the people in Washington DC are doing?  And I am not even just talking about the President. I think so many times we focus on who is in that role and forget about congress, even though they have so much power.

This November 4th we will not be voting for a new President but we will be voting on a lot of other things. We will be voting on congregational elections, gubernatorial elections as well as different amendments for different states. Here in Tennessee, we are voting on abortion rights.

This election really matters!  This is not something any of us should be ignoring, Military or Civilian. 

Yes, the Presidential election is important but everyone should be voting in the non-presidential elections too. Do what you can to get registered and then research the candidates. Find out what is going on where you will be voting and make a decision about it.

I think if more people did that, we would have a better system. If only 50% of the population votes, how do we really have the men and women the people wanted in office? If we as Military spouses want some changes made, one step is voting for the right people to get the job done. We can’t just sit back and let someone else have a say. We have the right to vote, we should be doing it, each and every election.

Even if the person we wanted doesn’t win, we at least did what we could to try to get them into office.

As a Military family, you can vote absentee if you don’t live where you are registered. This is great because you can vote from anywhere, I did it from Germany.

Here are some resources that can help:

• Federal Voting Assistance Program– A great place to find out more information on how to vote in the Military and overseas.

• GovTrack– Follow who voted for what and find out who your representatives are.

• Army Voting Facebook Page– Resources for voting while in the Military.

• Election Resources– Here you can find a list of the election websites for each state.

• The National Military Family Association- Information on the Military Spouse Residency Relief Act.

Are you registered? Do you vote in person or absentee?