I was thinking one of the most important financial choices you can do is vote, because these are the folks making the big decisions that are going to impact your job opportunities, income, savings rates, retirement options, etc.

And since I was a touring a stage manager when this blog began, and so many of my friends are still touring, and I currently live in the UK for school – maybe some of my readers are also Americans who are not planning to be home on November 5^th.

If you won’t be home and still want to vote, you just need to request an absentee ballot, and it’s usually pretty simple.

However,  you need to remember to do so in advance. You can find all of the absentee ballot requests here at vote.org for each state. This is the list you can use if you will generally be home and can receive mail to your address but need to send it your ballot in advance since you can’t vote in person.

Rhode Island has the longest requirement. You must submit your request 21 days before the election, so make sure you get that request in before October 15^th if you are from the Ocean State.

Quite a few states require 11-15 days in advance too.

From the list above, if you click on your state, vote.org will help you get your absentee ballot sorted.

If you are abroad, you should check with the U.S. Embassy for the country you want to vote from. The U.S. Embassy in England directed me to the Federal Voting Assistance Program, which is for those living abroad to receive a ballot.

It took me about 5 minutes to register online and then I also had to mail in a signed form and mail it to the clerk in the county I’m registered with in New Jersey. I received my ballot at the end of September and was able to mail it back this week.

However, you can wait until election day, as long as it’s postmarked by the end of the day.

So, this isn’t a long post, but it is an important one. Please make sure to vote!

And if you’ve never registered to vote before, you can do it here.