Representatives in place for voting assistance Published March 21, 2008 LAUGHLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Texas -- With the U.S. presidential election in November drawing closer every day, servicemembers and their families living outside their state of legal residence must begin making preparations if they wish to vote. To assist in this process, each unit on base has been assigned a unit voting assistance officer. Representatives were recently trained by John Godley, Senior Program Analyst and team leader for the Federal Voting Assistance Program, who explained in depth the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act. The UOCAVA allows U.S. citizens residing outside the country, members of the military and their eligible family members the opportunity to vote in elections for Federal offices. The act requires each Federal department and agency with personnel covered by it to have a voting assistance program. According to the 2008-09 Voting Assistance Guide, the goals of the FVAP are to inform and educate U.S. citizens worldwide of their right to vote, foster voting participation, protect the integrity of the electoral process and promote effectiveness and efficiency in the administration of the UOCAVA. Sabrina Pena, installation VAO, said anyone with access to Laughlin's internal web site can access information about the FVAP at http://sps.laughlin.af.mil/ext/voting/index.html, including points of contact for each unit.