Having Ballot Sent To Port Agent

We will be cruising on the Coral in Asia in September, October and November. We will stop in Hong Kong on 23 October. In 2012 we had our ballots sent to the U.S. Consulate in Hong Kong while on a long cruise. Picked them up, went back to the ship, voted and mailed them from there. I just contacted the HK Consulate and they replied that they no longer accept mail for U.S. citizens, even ballots. I have the address for the Princess Port Agent for Hong Kong. I wonder if I can have my ballot forwarded to them for delivery to the ship while it is there? Has anyone ever done this?

it might be easier if you submit the absentee ballot to your local voting place before your trip.

it might be easier if you submit the absentee ballot to your local voting place before your trip.

That only works if you are home when the absentee ballots are available.

In 2016 we left for our cruise 2 weeks before the absentee ballots were sent out. Ended up unable to vote.

We are on the same Coral Princess cruise and are debating the same thing. Looks like will already be gone when the absentee ballot is mailed, so probably will not be able to vote in this election cycle. Which is a shame because we definitely have some concerns we would like to vote on.

i’ll be following this thread if you find out anything differently about the port agent. But not sure how the absentee ballot would get to them when our mail is going to be collected by the post office :rolleyes:

We are on the same Coral Princess cruise and are debating the same thing. Looks like will already be gone when the absentee ballot is mailed, so probably will not be able to vote in this election cycle. Which is a shame because we definitely have some concerns we would like to vote on.

 

i’ll be following this thread if you find out anything differently about the port agent. But not sure how the absentee ballot would get to them when our mail is going to be collected by the post office :rolleyes:

My understanding is that anything that needs to be sent to the ship (spare parts, supplies, mail for the crew, etc.) is sent to the port agent who delivers it to the ship when it arrives in port. So if I ask my local elections office to mail my ballot there, it should be delivered to the ship when we arrive in Hong Kong. I have a Patter from when we were in HK in March on the Majestic, and it has the port agent's address.

That only works if you are home when the absentee ballots are available.

In 2016 we left for our cruise 2 weeks before the absentee ballots were sent out. Ended up unable to vote.

We have a friend who had the same problem as you. She went to the county election department, made a big fuss, and they generated an absentee ballot for her on the spot. Try being pushy.

DON

Did she vote then and there or vote later on that ballot and mail it from out of the country?

Contact Democrats Abroad. DD voted thru them when she lived in Rome for a few years.

Do not know if other parties have this available. But if one does, other might also.

You might also check to see if your state will e-mail a ballot to you. The ship could then print it out and you could proceed from there. We were in a similar situation several years ago when on an extended European trip and our state, CT, was able to accommodate our request.

We have a friend who had the same problem as you. She went to the county election department, made a big fuss, and they generated an absentee ballot for her on the spot. Try being pushy.

 

DON

I have worked part time around elections for our election office. Our ballots are not printed that far out. It would not work where I live.

You might also check to see if your state will e-mail a ballot to you. The ship could then print it out and you could proceed from there. We were in a similar situation several years ago when on an extended European trip and our state, CT, was able to accommodate our request.

That seems to be high risk for voting fraud.

That seems to be high risk for voting fraud.

I was thinking the same thing.

That seems to be high risk for voting fraud.

There may be, but I am not sure why or how that is pertinent to my question. I want to know if I can have my ballot sent to the ship. I want to know if anyone has ever had this done.

I donot think you can expect the ship to receive iti, hold it and get i tp;romp;tly to you when you board. My DH needed to have a FE D Ex envelope delivered while we were aboard for two weeks. . he received it promptly but we were not assured (in advance) that would happen. It was handled fine but they did not feel secure that would happen

K.I.S.S. and use Poste Restante, which virtually every Post Office system in the world uses. Sometimes it's only major sorting offices rather than any old Post Office (the US for example only accepts PR in the main PO of each city), but Hong Kong apparently you can use any Post Office at all.

Have it sent to Your Full Name, at the address of the nearest PO to the pier (or somewhere else you know you can conveniently get to during your time there) and mark clearly as Poste Restante (plus 存局待領 if you can trust whomever is mailing the ballot to be able to handle Chinese characters!) You will need to show government picture ID to collect it.

Did she vote then and there or vote later on that ballot and mail it from out of the country?

Don't know about that.

DON

K.I.S.S. and use Poste Restante, which virtually every Post Office system in the world uses. Sometimes it's only major sorting offices rather than any old Post Office (the US for example only accepts PR in the main PO of each city), but Hong Kong apparently you can use any Post Office at all.

 

Have it sent to Your Full Name, at the address of the nearest PO to the pier (or somewhere else you know you can conveniently get to during your time there) and mark clearly as Poste Restante (plus 存局待領 if you can trust whomever is mailing the ballot to be able to handle Chinese characters!) You will need to show government picture ID to collect it.

Thanks, that is useful information. I had never heard of the term Poste Restante, but looks like what we used to call "General Delivery". Didn't know it was still commonly used by travelers.

I have worked part time around elections for our election office. Our ballots are not printed that far out. It would not work where I live.

They do know who is going to be on the ballot way before the election. She made a real fuss and they custom printed one for her. She was really pushy. They might have done it to get rid of her.

DON

Thanks, that is useful information. I had never heard of the term Poste Restante, but looks like what we used to call "General Delivery". Didn't know it was still commonly used by travelers.

It's still a useful thing for folks who travel for long periods, though less and less relevant - but some stuff you can't get by email. And yes, General Delivery is the term used in the US and Anglophone Canada (though not the UK or other ex-colonies, who all seem to have stuck with the original).

There is a reason that early voting in most states open about a month before election day.

While you might be able to get an absentee ballot in a foreign country by mail, the odds of you being able to mail it and get it back to the proper officials in a timely manner are pretty slim in the circumstances described by the OP. If you leave too soon to vote early you are going to have a hard time voting in this election.

There may be, but I am not sure why or how that is pertinent to my question. I want to know if I can have my ballot sent to the ship. I want to know if anyone has ever had this done.

It really depends upon the policies and procedures in place at your political entity. There are specific concerns regarding timing and delivery.

There is a reason that early voting in most states open about a month before election day.

 

 

 

While you might be able to get an absentee ballot in a foreign country by mail, the odds of you being able to mail it and get it back to the proper officials in a timely manner are pretty slim in the circumstances described by the OP. If you leave too soon to vote early you are going to have a hard time voting in this election.

You may be right. While it seemed to work for me when I picked up my ballot in Hong Kong in 2012 and mailed it from the ship about three weeks before the election I really can not be sure. If it arrived home too late to be counted I would not know as I assume those ballots are just discarded. Maybe I am placing too much importance to a minor inconvenience of not voting in the mid term election.

Please pardon the second posting on this thread, but for those concerned with obtaining absentee ballots while traveling, according to http://www.overseasvotefoundation.org, the only state that does not provide absentee ballots on line and/or via e-mail is Alabama. The website is a gold mine of information between which and a visit to your local Registrar of Voters (or the appropriate functionary in your district) should enable the vast majority to cast a ballot come November. Please do so. It's important.

We will be cruising on the Coral in Asia in September, October and November. We will stop in Hong Kong on 23 October. In 2012 we had our ballots sent to the U.S. Consulate in Hong Kong while on a long cruise. Picked them up, went back to the ship, voted and mailed them from there. I just contacted the HK Consulate and they replied that they no longer accept mail for U.S. citizens, even ballots. I have the address for the Princess Port Agent for Hong Kong. I wonder if I can have my ballot forwarded to them for delivery to the ship while it is there? Has anyone ever done this?

I see that you live in Washington state. I live in Florida and have a similar problem, mostly solved. I'll be on the Golden Princess from September 23 until after election day. We're leaving Florida on September 17, before early voting opens. I do not want to miss voting in this election.

I contacted my local Supervisor of Elections Office and arranged to get an Overseas Voter's Ballot. They will email it to me on the ship. I then have to print it out and return it by fax on or before election date. I cannot apply until I'm out to sea. The only problem I haven't solved yet is what to put for my overseas address. They won't be mailing anything there, but they require a "valid" one.

I suggest that you contact your local Supervisor of Elections Office, or whatever it's called in Washington state and find out how you can vote from your cruise.

Twice, I have requested my ballot to be sent to me via HAL's Port Agent in Hong Kong. The ships I was on had a two day port stay in that wonderful city.

The first time, the mail from my County Board of Elections was delivered to my cabin during our first day. I marked it and took it to the Main Post Office on the island (via Star Ferry). The Post Office was a short walk from the Ferry Landing. (Why did I do this? I tried to mail the ballot via the ship's Front Office. The staff member told me that all I needed was post card postage which they could sell. I thanked the young woman and thought "I don't think so" and then went to the Post Office myself. The difference in what I had to pay and the post card postage was significant.) Returning home, I asked the Board of Elections to check to see if they had a record of me voting in that election and they did. My ballot was received.

The second time, I followed the same pattern with the ballot being sent to the Port Agent. First port day, no mail delivered to my cabin. Second day, still no mail. The ballot never arrived in Hong Kong. Upon checking, my Board of Elections had no record of me voting in that election and the staff member had no memory of that piece of mail being returned to them.

At least, I tried to do my duty as a citizen.