What can I do if my state rejected my voter registration because I've never lived in the US?

Most states allow a US citizen who has never lived in the US to register to vote using the address of the last place their US citizen parent (or spouse) lived in the US. However, 13 states require that a voter must have actually resided in the state in the past to register to vote there: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wyoming. And 1 state (Oregon) applies restrictions that effectively prevent these US citizens from registering to vote. This position effectively disenfranchises US citizens who are otherwise entitled to vote and also incur all the responsibilities of being a US citizen, such as filing tax returns and registering for the military draft.

The Federal Post Card Application (FPCA) lists 5 categories for overseas voters to choose from, including “I have never lived in the US.” However the FPCA is meant to be used in all 50 states (plus 6 non-state jurisdictions) and not all classification categories are applicable for every state. The US government website to register to vote from abroad (www.fvap.gov) doesn't list the “never lived in the US” option for the 13 states that exclude US citizens who have never lived in the US and www.VoteFromAbroad.org also excludes this option for those states.

If your voter registration was rejected because you indicated "I've never lived in the US," you do have some options. 

First, make sure that you actually are in this category. You aren't in this category if you've lived in the U.S. for any length of time. It has to be more than a short visit or vacation, but you don't need to have taken any specific actions, such as attending school, or getting a driver's license, or registering to vote. And you don't need to have lived in the U.S. as an adult. Your time in the U.S. counts even if you left as a baby or child. 

If you chose the category in error, you can re-apply under another category. As a non-military overseas voter, your choices would be: “intend to return” or “return is uncertain.” Be sure to inform the election office that you previously chose the wrong category by mistake.

Alternatively, you could seek to register to vote under your own ties to a state, not as a voter who has "never lived in the US." If you have a strong tie to a state, such as lengthy stays (30 days in-state is often a requirement to register to vote) or multiple visits to friends or relatives in-state, you may be able to use one of those addresses as your “US voting address.”

Finally, you could go live in the US for a sufficient amount of time to establish voting residency at that address (as mentioned above 30 days is often a requirement to register to vote). Then you’d be using your own US voting address and not using your US citizen parent’s last US residence address.

Please keep in mind, this is general advice about registering to vote as an overseas voter. The Local Election Official in the voting district makes the final determination whether the ties are sufficient to accept a voter registration form. If the Local Election Official rejects a voter registration form, they must provide an explanation.

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