 All right, so voting why do I want to talk about voting today? Well, you know while I was on leave You know to tie this in I thought about that voting You know about being the absentee voter as I was back in my state, you know of California where I'm registered to vote and Thinking wow, you know upcoming primaries Across the the United States Getting up ready for you know Even some presidential elections coming up here in the near future where people are starting to talk about Whether they're throwing their hat in the ring. Where are we with our? Absentee voting and where are we as military whether we're Air Force or Army or Navy or Coast Guard or Marine? Across the world and where are we in educating our young? You know military on voting people that we vote for as we are military members are the ones, you know in Congress and state and our federal government that are voting on You know our pay voting on our use of our military Overseas and you know, how much money we get as a as an Air Force as a Navy as a Marine as an Army as a Coast Guard And what we do with that and so it's very critical not just as an American citizen But as a military member It's very critical that we take the time to research our candidates that we talk about voting that we're registered to vote And we're doing everything that we need to do To be that absentee voter. So a lot of us, you know in that age group between 17 and 24 Come into the Navy during that time frame and for many of us We turn 18 or are 18 eligible to vote in the United States While we're in the military during our first hitch and so we're learning how to vote For the first time while we're in the military and for many of us the first time we're going to vote Is while we're overseas and having to use an absentee that absentee ballot so for many of us The first time we're voting And we're voting overseas when we're in the United States military How do we do it? How do we vote? So for all of our young sailors out there in our young military regardless of branch How do you vote? You're in the military. You just turned 20 years old You know, it's the first election that you're able to vote in you've never done it before So I guess my first message out there is Don't be afraid to vote or don't not vote Because you're not familiar with how to vote Find that assistance find that chief or find that, you know Leader that can help you vote every command is required to have a voting assistance officer, right? So now that we all know that every command has a voting assistance officer That's your first step find out who your voting assistance officer is Where else can we go to get help if you're in a remote location? And you don't know who your voting assistance officer is or you're on the road Or you kind of want to look things up yourself Everybody has a great website out there. Who's our website to go to that is fvap.gov Right, and that's the The federal voting assistance program, right fvap.gov if your Dependents that are of voting age are also with you overseas Can they get an absentee ballot? Can they vote absentee? Absolutely. And where can we find this information? Fvap.gov That's right the best website ever about voting. Yeah, there's lots of information I know you have the website up and you have looking at right now the frequently asked questions And that's one of the questions in there, right? Yeah, it is so like give us verbatim like right It says under the uniform services, right? You know, there's specific questions And I think one of them was you know, can my dependence or can my spouse? Vote is that correct? So what is it? What does it tell us on there? Yeah, somebody asked my family members. They're not in the military. Can they also vote absentee and the answer first word? Yes, eligible spouse's independence and that is a u.s citizens 18 years or older of military personnel may vote absentee Some say some states allow children of military personnel residing overseas who are u.s citizens But who have never resided in the u.s to claim one of their u.s citizens parents legal state or residents as they're up And see that's good information and that was something I didn't even think of and didn't know So if your child turns 18 years old While you're stationed overseas and they haven't registered before so what state do they claim so they can claim either parents State where they're registered, which is great because they haven't settled somewhere in the states yet. They've been overseas And so that's great information when we bring this all together Age 18 or older. Yes vote vote vote vote If you're a first time voter register register register register If you're overseas, whether you're active duty military or your dependent spouse or child that is of a voting age Register register register vote vote. You are eligible as well for that absentee ballot And if you are looking at changing your state of Register of Votership, where do you do that? How do you do that? And again your voting assistance officer www.fvap.gov Has a myriad of information on how to do that. Don't wait for things to happen to you make them happen for you