Privacy and Accessibility Policies

Disclaimers

Privacy Policy

  1. The Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP) provides this website as a public service.

  2. Information presented on the Federal Voting Assistance Program website is considered public information and may be distributed or copied. Use of appropriate byline/photo/image credits is requested.

  3. For site management, information is collected for statistical purposes. This government computer system uses software programs to create summary statistics, which are used for such purposes as assessing what information is of most and least interest, determining technical design specifications and identifying system performance or problem areas.

  4. Privacy Act Statement - If you choose to provide FVAP with personal information - like filling out the Contact Us form with email and/or postal addresses - FVAP will only use that information to respond to your message or request. FVAP will only share the information you provide with another government agency if your inquiry relates to that agency, or as otherwise required by law. FVAP never creates individual profiles or gives it to any private organizations. FVAP never collects information for commercial marketing. While you must provide an email address or postal address for a response other than those generated automatically in response to questions or comments that you may submit, FVAP recommends that you NOT include any other personal information, especially Social Security numbers. The Social Security Administration offers additional guidance on sharing your Social Security number. For site security purposes and to ensure that this service remains available to all users, this government computer system employs software programs to monitor network traffic to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information, or otherwise cause damage.

  5. Except for authorized law enforcement investigations, no other attempts are made to identify individual users or their usage habits. Raw data logs are used for no other purposes and are scheduled for regular destruction in accordance with National Archives and Records Administration guidelines.

  6. Unauthorized attempts to upload information or change information on this service are strictly prohibited and may be punishable under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986 and the National Information Infrastructure Protection Act.

  7. If you have any questions or comments about the information presented here, or if you have suggestions for making this site more useful, please email them to us: tech@fvap.gov.

Use of Measurement and Customization Technology 

This website uses measurement and customization technology known as a "cookies." Cookies are used to remember a user's online interactions with a website or online application in order to conduct measurement and analysis of usage or to customize the user's experience. These cookies are enabled by default once the user enters the FVAP.gov website, as the information gathered by the statistics aggregator depends on them. Opt-out instructions for those wishing to disable cookies can be found below.

There are two kinds of cookies used on this website. A single-session cookie (Tier 1) is a line of text that is stored temporarily on a user's computer and deleted as soon as the browser is closed. A persistent or multi-session cookie (Tier 2) is saved to a file on a user's hard drive and is called up the next time that user visits a website. Session-based cookies are used to tie together a user with his/her data as the user steps through the online assistants for completion of the Federal Post Card Application and Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot. Upon closing the browser, all session-based cookies are deleted.

Tier 2 cookies are used to distinguish between summary statistics for users who have been to the site before and those that are visiting the site for the first time. FVAP does not gather, request, record, collect or track any Internet users' personally identifiable information (PII) through these processes. FVAP.gov uses Tier 2 cookies to remember whether a website visitor prefers to view the default homepage or an alternative page geared towards more specific content.

Opting Out - Cookies are enabled by default once the user enters the FVAP.gov website, as the information gathered by the statistics aggregator depends on them. However, users can choose not to accept the use of these cookies by changing the settings on their local computer's web browser. Opting out of cookies still permits users to access comparable information and services; however, it may take longer to navigate or interact with the website if a user is required to fill out certain information repeatedly.

Please Note: By changing your settings and opting out of the use of cookies, some functions of the FVAP.gov website may be disabled to include use of the FPCA and FWAB online assistants. This is due to the functionality requiring the use of session-based cookies to tie individual users to data on the server as information is submitted. If these session-based cookies are blocked, the user will be unable to advance past the first page of the online assistant.

The USA.gov website, http://www.usa.gov/optout_instructions.shtml, provides general instructions on how to opt out of cookies and other commonly used web measurement and customization technologies.

Use of Public Computers

A public (or shared) computer is any computer used by someone other than you. For example computers at Internet cafes, libraries, hotels, airports, or shared work computers.

The computer may save some of your personal data in temporary files. We recommend that you delete all personal data from the public computer before logging off the system. Please check the browser's help file to determine how to delete any private data that has been stored during your session.

Accessibility/Section 508

The U.S. Department of Defense is committed to making its electronic and information technology accessible to individuals with disabilities in accordance with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act (29 U.S.C. 794d), as amended in 1999. Send feedback or concerns related to the accessibility of this website to: DoDSection508@osd.mil. For more information about Section 508, please visit the DoD Section 508 website.

The web pages posted to the FVAP.gov website have been tested in accordance with the provisions of the aforementioned Act. If you have difficulty accessing any portion of this site, please contact us via email at tech@fvap.gov, subject: Accessibility. Our Web Team welcomes comments on how to improve the site's accessibility for users with disabilities.

The FVAP.gov website presents many documents in Adobe .PDF format. Free tools from the Adobe Corporation are available to assist visually impaired users at the Adobe website. This link is made to assist in accessibility of .PDF files on this site. No endorsement of Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Systems, Inc., or warranty is implied or expressed.

Free Viewers

These free viewer programs are available for download and installation. This website may require one or more of these plug-ins for a variety of purposes to view documents within the website.

Note: Users on military networks should consult your local network administrator to have these programs installed on your computers.

External Links Disclaimer

FVAP encourages links to our web pages. No permission is required to link to this site.

This site provides external links as a convenience to our users and all links provided are consistent with the mission of the Federal Voting Assistance Program. The appearance of external hyperlinks on the FVAP.gov website does not constitute endorsement by FVAP or the Department of Defense of the linked websites, or the information, products or services contained therein. FVAP does not exercise any editorial control over the information you may find at these locations.

Please let us know about existing external links which you believe are inappropriate by contacting us.

  • Links to Government Websites

A link can be added to the FVAP.gov website for any government website that is publicly available unless directed not to by the agency that owns the site. Acceptable federal government-owned or government-sponsored website domains include .gov, .mil, .fed, and .us. The FVAP.gov website may also link to: quasi-government agencies and websites created by public sector/private sector partnerships; state and local government sites (e.g., www.virginia.gov); and some government-sponsored websites that end in .com, .org, or .net.

  • Links to Non-Government Websites

In rare instances, FVAP will link to websites that are not government-owned or government-sponsored if these websites provide government information and/or services in a way that is not available on an official government website. The FVAP.gov website provides these non-government websites as a public service only. FVAP neither endorses nor guarantees in any way the external organizations, services, advice, or products included in these website links. Furthermore, the Federal Voting Assistance Program neither controls nor guarantees the accuracy, relevance, timeliness or completeness of the information contained in non-government website links.

  • Prohibitions

The FVAP.gov website will not link to any website that exhibits hate, bias, or discrimination. Furthermore, the Federal Voting Assistance Program website reserves the right to deny or remove any link that contains misleading information or unsubstantiated claims, or is determined to be in conflict with Federal Voting Assistance Program's mission or policies.

Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)

The FOIA generally provides that any person has a right, enforceable in court, of access to federal agency records, except to the extent that such records (or portions thereof) are protected from disclosure by one of nine exemptions. All requests for information under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) should be submitted to the Office of Freedom of Information. Directions on how to submit a FOIA request are available online, along with additional information on the Office of Freedom of Information's FOIA program, at https://www.foia.gov/.

Copyright Notice

The Federal Voting Assistance Program provides information presented on this website as a public service of the U.S. Government. Be advised that not all materials appearing here are in the public domain; some are copyrighted. You may encounter documents or other information resources that may be protected by United States and foreign copyright laws. The Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. Based on your analysis, you may need to seek permission from the copyright owner if your intended use of copyrighted information is beyond that allowed by law or the Government's license.

Only government works prepared by officers and employees of the U.S. Government as part of their official duties are not protected by copyright in the U.S. (17 USC § 105). Be advised that government works may contain a privately created work (e.g. quote, photograph, chart, drawing, etc.) used with permission; incorporation in a U.S. Government work does not place the private work in the public domain.

Contractors and grantees are not considered Government employees; generally they hold copyright to works they produce for the Government. The Government is granted a nonexclusive, irrevocable, paid-up royalty-free worldwide license to use, modify, reproduce, release, perform, display or disclose these works by or on behalf of the Government.

If you have any questions or comments about the information presented here, please forward them to us using the Contact Us page.

Social Media Comment Policy

Through its social media channels, the Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP) hopes to engage users on the subject of UOCAVA voting and how FVAP can help voters successfully vote absentee. Through this social media comment policy, FVAP can help ensure that social media interactions on its page remain thought provoking and constructive.

Comments and Replies

FVAP understands that some of the content shared on its social media accounts will relate to issues that people are passionate about and knows that users may strongly support or oppose certain positions or opinions on those issues. FVAP values differing perspectives and will not delete a user's comment, reply, or post unless it goes against the guidelines listed below. These community guidelines were developed in an effort to uphold values of mutual respect and civility when engaging with FVAP content. They apply to all posts and comments.

FVAP's rules for constructive commenting hold that users must:

  • Be courteous when commenting. Users cannot threaten, denigrate or verbally abuse other users.
  • Use respectful language. Users cannot use language that is obscene, profane, or defamatory. Users must refrain from using words, terms, or phrases that abuse or discriminate against others on the basis of race, religion, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, age, location, disability, political preference, etc.
  • Debates are okay. Attacks are not. In a community filled with opinions and preferences, people WILL disagree. FVAP encourages active discussion and welcome debate, however personal attacks are in no way acceptable when commenting.
  • Absolutely no spam. FVAP has a firm "no spam" policy. Users cannot promote or post links for any commercial material. Users also cannot post or comment in a manner that promotes any material containing any solicitation of funds, advertising, or solicitation for goods or services.
  • Individual users are solely responsible for the content of their messages. Users cannot knowingly post content that violates the copyright, trademark, patent or other intellectual property of a third party. Likewise, users cannot post content that is libelous, defamatory, obscene, abusive, that violates a third party's right to privacy, or that is otherwise inappropriate.
  • Please note that FVAP does not edit users' comments, replies, or posts. However, FVAP does reserve the right to delete those that violate these guidelines. FVAP believes that holding everyone to a high standard will make discussions more thoughtful and meaningful, and FVAP looks forward to hearing users' opinions and ideas.

Getting In Touch

  • FVAP aims to be receptive and responsive to any questions or concerns users have via our social media accounts, including public posts and direct messages.