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Warden Message

Mailing Options for Voting Materials

October 22, 2008

Voters in Nigeria have a number of options for mailing Federal Postcard Applications, voted state ballots, and Federal Write-in Absentee Ballots to their local election officials in the United States.  Mailing addresses for local election officials and state mailing deadlines can be found in the Voting Assistance Guide, available on-line at www.fvap.gov.

1. First Class Mail:  You may mail your Federal Postcard Application or voted ballot to the United States through the Nigerian mail system, with appropriate international postage.  Mail to the U.S. takes approximately 15 to 20 days.

2. Diplomatic Pouch:  Diplomatic pouch to the East Coast takes approximately 5 working days. Additionally processing of mail at the diplomatic pouch facility in the Washington, D.C. area and onward delivery by the U.S. Postal Service to local election officials across the U.S. can take another one to four days.  The Consular Section will place a date stamp and seal on your ballot as evidence of the date and location from which the ballot was mailed.  However, this is not a postmark.  Voters should make every effort to submit their ballots to the U.S. Embassy no later than October 23.

3.  Express Courier:  Last-minute voters can use express courier services such as FedEx, UPS and DHL to send their voted ballots to all states and territories except Alabama.  Express courier companies cannot deliver to post office boxes, so you will need to know the street address of your local voting official in the United States.  Mail sent by express courier companies is not postmarked.  Contact information for some local express courier companies follows:

FedEx: www.fedex.com or call 0803-318-1524
UPS:  www.ups.com   or call 0803-311-2676
DHL: www.dhl.com or call 0805-533-8962

4.  Voters faxing or e-mailing voting materials should use the electronic transmission cover sheet available at http://www.fvap.gov/resources/media/coversheet.pdf. 

Voters faxing or e-mailing their completed ballots must waive their right to a secret ballot.
Toll-free international phone and fax numbers are at http://www.fvap.gov/contact/index.html.