I voted!

 I've voted!

Here's how I did it from Panama, and also how I nearly spent (but didn't actually spend) $70 doing so.

First I went to the https://www.fvap.gov/ website (that's "Federal Voting Assistance Program" site of the U.S. Government), and I filled out the form saying that I'm living overseas temporarily.  I signed up to get my ballot electronically.  

A day or two later, I got this helpful email message (with identifying details redacted):

subject:  your Ballot Application Has Been Processed

Dear [FULL NAME],

The [COUNTY] County Election Office has processed your ballot application on 09/17/2024.

Your application status is: Approved.

If your application was approved, you will receive an email when your ballot is being prepared for mailing.  You can always check your ballot status at the following Department of State link:  https://www.pavoterservices.pa.gov/Pages/BallotTracking.aspx

If you have questions about your ballot application, please contact [COUNTY] County at [THIS PHONE NUMBER].

Thank you

Then, three days after that, I got a pair of emails. The first had my password for a ballot, and the second had a ballot that I could only open with the password. Unlike most pdfs, I also couldn't alter it to add my vote on the pdf; instead, I had to print the ballot out --- using the password again --- and then write on the paper ballot.

So far, so good. Although I'd agreed in advance I'd be okay emailing my ballot directly to voter services in my county (and thereby waiving my right to anonymity), the ballot came with directions for mailing the paper version in, including:

• filling out the ballot -- that is, marking my votes;
• putting the ballot into a plain #10 envelope, sealing that, and writing nothing at all on that "secrecy envelope";
• adding the secrecy envelope and my identifying absentee paperwork into another envelope;
• mailing that back to my voting authority.

It was the last step that got tricky.  I took the whole shebang over to Mailboxes, ETC to see about mailing this envelope back to the States.  Panamanian mail is notoriously unreliable, so they use FedEx or UPS as courier services, and it turns out that mailing a single envelope costs . . .

. . . are you ready?. . . 

. . . mailing a single envelope from Panama to the U.S. costs $70.  Or, $60, if you hunt around for the lowest price.  

Okay, I know my vote is valuable, but I really wasn't sure I was ready to shell out $60 or $70 bucks just to mail my vote if I could find a less pricey alternative.  So I went back and re-read the instructions that had come with the material I'd gotten when I first registered for that absentee ballot, and found that email address for my voting authority.  I emailed my scanned ballot (so, print the pdf, write on the printed copy, and then scan the printed copy back into being a pdf), and crossed my fingers.

The very next morning, I got the message with the subject line

Your Ballot Has Been Received

Yay!

Shortly after that, I got a message from the U.S. Embassy, saying that although we can't vote at the Embassy, they'll accept election materials for mailing to the U.S. through October 6; if I'd gone to the Embassy instead of Mailboxes ETC, I could have mailed that envelope with standard U.S. postage.