Federal efforts to assist members of the Armed Forces date to 1864, when President Abraham Lincoln issued an order to allow members of the military to return home to cast a ballot if they could not vote absentee according to the laws of their respective states. Eighteen states, all in the North, permitted soldiers to vote absentee by establishing remote voting at military encampments where units were usually organized by state. Some other states permitted an absent military voter to designate a proxy, who would cast a ballot, as directed, on the voter's behalf. Little progress occurred concerning absentee voting by members of the military in the following decades, despite an expansion of state absentee voting laws. Such laws generally extended absentee voting rights to those absent from their voting district, but who were permitted to send an absentee ballot by mail from within the state. Even those state laws designed specifically to assist absent military voters either did not apply to overseas soldiers, or were ineffective because of the barriers to delivering and receiving mail in overseas locations. When the issue arose for overseas soldiers in World War I, the War Department announced that "it would not conduct or supervise the taking of the service vote," but pledged cooperation with the states that could establish their own means to do so. A contradictory statement noted that the "soldier vote could not be taken in France or on other foreign soil in the theater of war without serious interference with military efficiency," and, in the end, "no states were allowed to poll the vote of soldiers on foreign soil." Likewise, the first federal legislation to assist military voters was introduced in 1918, but was not acted upon. The issue subsided until World War II, when the challenge of how to facilitate military voting—especially by those stationed overseas—emerged once again. The first federal absentee voting law was the Soldier Voting Act of 1942 (P.L. 77-712) that guaranteed the right to vote in federal elections to members of the Armed Forces who were absent from their places of residence during wartime. The law allowed members of the Armed Forces to vote for presidential electors and candidates for the U.S. Senate and House, whether or not they were previously registered and regardless of poll tax requirements. The law provided for the use of a postage-free, federal post card application to request an absentee ballot; it also instructed secretaries of state to prepare an appropriate number of "official war ballots," which listed federal office candidates, as well as candidates for state and local office if authorized by the state legislature. The law "had almost no impact at all" with respect to assisting Armed Forces voters, or on the outcome of the election itself, because it was enacted on September 16, only weeks before the 1942 November general election. Only 28,000 of 5 million soldiers voted that year. Under congressional war powers, the 1942 law mandated procedures for the states to permit servicemembers to vote, but the law as amended in 1944 recommended that states follow such procedures. Congressional authority to regulate state voting procedures expired once the war ended, because the law noted that its provisions applied "in time of war." The law was amended again in 1946 to include technical changes. In 1951, President Truman asked the American Political Science Association (APSA) to study the military voting problem and make recommendations. APSA completed its study in 1952 and the President endorsed the association's legislative recommendations, which were sent to Congress. The Federal Voting Assistance Act (P.L. 84-296) was subsequently enacted in 1955; it recommended, but did not guarantee, absentee registration and voting for members of the military, federal employees who lived outside the United States, and members of civilian service organizations affiliated with the Armed Forces. The law was amended in 1968 to include a more general provision for U.S. citizens temporarily residing outside the United States, expanding the number of civilians covered under the law. The Overseas Citizens Voting Rights Act of 1975 ( P.L. 94-203 ) guaranteed absentee registration and voting rights for citizens outside the United States, whether or not they maintained a U.S. residence or address and whether or not they intended to return. The current law, the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act ( P.L. 99-410 ), was signed into law by President Reagan on August 28, 1986. It consolidated the provisions of the Federal Voting Assistance Act of 1955 that pertained to military voters and their dependents, and the Overseas Citizens Voting Rights Act of 1975 that pertained to American citizens abroad. The law was amended by the Help America Vote Act ( P.L. 107-252 ) in 2002, the National Defense Authorization Act of 2002 ( P.L. 107-107 ), the Defense Authorization Act for FY2005 ( P.L. 108-375 ), the John Warner National Defense Authorization Act for FY2007 ( P.L. 109-364 ), the National Defense Authorization Act for FY2010 ( P.L. 111-84 ), and the FY2015 National Defense Authorization Act ( P.L. 113-291 ). The main provisions of the law require states to do the following: Permit uniformed services voters, their spouses and dependents, and overseas voters who no longer maintain a residence in the United States to register absentee (overseas voters are eligible to register absentee in the jurisdiction of their last residence) and to vote by absentee ballot in all elections for federal office (including general, primary, special, and runoff elections). The National Defense Authorization Act of 2002 amended UOCAVA to permit a voter to submit a single absentee application in order to receive an absentee ballot for each federal election in the state during the year. The Help America Vote Act subsequently amended that section of the law to extend the period covered by a single absentee ballot application to the next two regularly scheduled general elections for federal office. The section was repealed in 2009 under the National Defense Authorization Act for FY2010. The Help America Vote Act also added a new section that prohibits a state from refusing to accept a valid voter registration application on the grounds that it was submitted prior to the first date on which the state processes applications for the year; this section was retained when the law was amended in 2009. Accept and process any valid voter registration application from an absent uniformed services voter or overseas voter if the application is received not less than 30 days before the election. The Help America Vote Act amended that section of the law to require a state to provide to a voter the reasons for rejecting a registration application or an absentee ballot request. The law recommends that states accept the federal write-in absentee ballot for general elections for federal office (provided the voter is registered, has made a timely request for a state absentee ballot, the absentee ballot has not arrived with sufficient time to return it, and the ballot is submitted from outside the United States or its territories). The law also stipulates that voting materials be carried "expeditiously and free of postage." It recommends that states accept the Federal Post Card Application (FPCA) from uniformed services voters, their spouses and dependents, and overseas voters, to allow for simultaneous absentee registration and to request an absentee ballot. While all states and territories accept the FPCA, some require that a voter submit the state registration form separately in order to be permanently registered. Other recommendations in the law suggest that states: waive registration requirements for military and overseas voters who do not have an opportunity to register because of service or residence; send registration materials, along with an absentee ballot to be returned simultaneously, if the FPCA is not sufficient for absentee registration; expedite the processing of voting materials; permit any required oath to be administered by a commissioned officer in the military or by any official authorized to administer oaths under federal law or the law of the state where the oath is administered; assure mailing absentee ballots to military and overseas voters at the earliest opportunity; and provide for late registration for persons recently separated from the military. In addition to the amendments to UOCAVA mentioned above, the Help America Vote Act of 2002 did the following: required the Secretary of Defense to establish procedures to provide time and resources for voting action officers to perform voting assistance duties; established procedures to ensure a postmark or proof of mailing date on absentee ballots; required secretaries of the Armed Forces to notify members of the last day for which ballots mailed at the facility can be expected to reach state or local officials in a timely fashion; required that members of the military and their dependents have access to information on registration and voting requirements and deadlines; and required that each person who enlists receives the national voter registration form; amended UOCAVA to require each state to designate a single office to provide information to all absent uniformed services voters and overseas voters who wish to register in the state; amended UOCAVA to require states to report the number of ballots sent to uniformed services and overseas voters and the number returned and cast in the election; and amended UOCAVA to require the Secretary of Defense to ensure that state officials are aware of the requirements of the law and to prescribe a standard oath for voting materials to be used in states that require such an oath. The Defense Authorization Act for FY2002 also included provisions that (1) required an annual review of the voting assistance program and a report to Congress; (2) guaranteed state residency for military personnel who are absent because of military duty; (3) continued the online voting pilot project begun for the 2000 elections; and (4) permitted the use of DOD facilities as polling places if they had previously been used for that purpose since 1996 or were designated for use by December 2000. The Ronald W. Reagan National Defense Authorization Act of Fiscal Year 2005 ( P.L. 108-375 ) amended UOCAVA to permit absent military voters in the United States to use the federal write-in ballot, previously intended for use only by overseas voters.