Base gets installation voting office Published Jan. 26, 2011 By Monica Mendoza 21st Space Wing Public Affairs Office staff writer PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. -- You can cast it, you can rock it, and now you will be able to register to vote on Peterson Air Force Base. Peterson AFB will celebrate the grand opening of its Installation Voting Office, in Building 350, room 2027, at 8 a.m. Jan. 31. The office is open to military and civilians and meant to provide easy access to a voting office, said Gail Whalen, the 21st Space Wing installation voting officer. "Anyone - military or civilian - if they want to register to vote, they have a one-stop shop," she said. In 2009, Congress approved the Military and Overseas Voting Empowerment Act, to ensure all military personnel have the opportunity to register to vote and those who are overseas have absentee ballots sent to them in a timely manner so their ballots can be cast and counted. The MOVE Act was prompted by a study of seven states that showed one in four overseas military voters who had requested ballots for the 2008 election never received their ballots, and therefore did not get an opportunity to vote. MOVE requires that every state send military voters their requested ballots no later than 45 days before an election. In addition, the Department of Defense will establish voting offices on military installations. Peterson's Installation Voting Office will initially be open from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesdays and Wednesdays and will be staffed by unit voting representatives. However, the long-term goal is to have the office staffed full time with a civilian employee.