Military Community Leaders & Policy Experts Discuss Voting Burdens on Military Members, their Families, and Veterans

Key military family and veteran advocates, policy experts, and affected individuals joined a briefing to discuss how recent election policy proposals at the state and federal level – including the recent executive order issued by President Trump – impact active duty military members, their families, and our veterans.

To view a recording of the briefing, click here.

In the briefing, Sarah Streyder, executive director of Secure Families Initiative and a military spouse who is currently an overseas voter, discussed the current hurdles members of the military and their families already face when it comes to ensuring their vote is counted. Noting military families must deal with multiple moves, the need to protect personal information for national security reasons, and possible lack of access to mail and internet service when overseas, Sarah said:

“As a military spouse who has voted overseas – including in three different locations in last year’s election alone – I can personally attest to how these policies could make voting insurmountable for folks like me. The executive order, and similar legislation pending at the state level, does not take into account our community’s lived experiences and instead creates unnecessary barriers for military and overseas voters.” 

Chirs Purdy, CEO of the Chamberlain Network and Army National Guard veteran discussed how this executive order undermines the service of members of the military, their families, and veterans:

“This executive order doesn’t secure our elections, but instead sidelines the very people who are serving this country and protecting our freedom. Veterans, especially those who have moved state-to-state or were deployed overseas, know how frustrating bureaucracy can be and this executive order just makes participating in our democracy more complicated.”

Daniel Griffith, senior policy director at Secure Democracy Foundation and an election law expert, spoke on how the executive order on elections issued by President Trump is igniting state lawmakers to push for additional burdens on voting:

“So far this year, 24 states have considered bills to impose proof of citizenship requirements and 16 states have considered bills to move ballot return deadlines earlier. We are already seeing these state efforts pick up steam. State lawmakers have explicitly referenced the executive order as inspiration.”

ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND:

The executive order on elections issued by President Trump on March 25, 2025 contains numerous provisions that would upend election administration and voting in the United States. The provisions that would most directly impact members of the military and their families include:

• Mandating documentary proof of citizenship to vote: The order requires the Department of Defense to amend the Federal Post Card Application (FPCA), which military and overseas voters may use to register to vote and apply for their home state’s absentee ballot, to require documentary proof of citizenship and proof of eligibility to vote in the state to which they are applying. It is unclear whether this new information will be required when military and overseas voters use the FPCA to register, to apply for ballots, or both. Servicemembers posted overseas might now be required to provide difficult to access documentation and meet unclear requirements concerning proof of eligibility every time they wish to vote in their home states while they’re serving their country.

• Moving up the mail ballot return deadline: The order may also impact military members and their families’ stationed overseas ability to return their mail ballot. Some states provide a grace period after Election Day for ballots returned by military and overseas voters to be delivered to election officials as long as the ballot is postmarked by Election Day. The executive order directs the U.S. Attorney General to enforce a deadline requiring all ballots to be received by election officials by the close of polls on Election Day to be eligible for counting. States currently providing a grace period would potentially need to eliminate it in order to avoid intervention by the Department of Justice.

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Secure Democracy Foundation is a nonpartisan, 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization building stronger elections, state by state. Our work is state-focused, informed by election policy insights from a national perspective, and realized by seizing common ground.

Secure Families Initiative is a nonpartisan, 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization that mobilizes diverse military partners, parents, kids, and loved ones to be voters and advocates for their communities, especially on issues of foreign policy, national security, and democracy.

The Chamberlain Network mobilizes and empowers veterans to protect democracy through organizing, education, and community engagement, ensuring the principles of freedom, social justice, and human rights thrive in a representative democracy. We build state and local networks of veterans dedicated to promoting democratic values, countering rising authoritarianism, and combating polarization. The Chamberlain Network is a fiscally sponsored project of Contina Impact, a 501(c)(3) organization.