PA Statute: 42 U.S.C. §§ 1973ff-6(5)(B) & (C)

42 U.S.C. §§ 1973ff-6(5)(B) & (C). These overseas voters who reside outside the United States and no longer maintain a Pennsylvania residence under Pennsylvania law are not qualified to vote for state office under Pennsylvania law, unless the overseas voter is a civilian employee of the United States outside the territorial limits of the United States or the spouse or dependent of such an employee. This exception for civilian employees of the United States and their spouses and dependents is found at 25 PS. § 3146.1(g) & (h). Civilian “overseas voters” qualified to vote for federal office under UOCAVA but not qualified under Pennsylvania law to vote for state and local offices or on ballot questions are sometimes described as “federal electors.” PLEASE NOTE: An example of a “federal elector” would include a US. citizen who will be 18 by the day of the general election, who was born in Pennsylvania, who spent at least the first day of his or her life in Pennsylvania and never returned to Pennsylvania to establish residency here. This “federal elector” may be sent an absentee ballot for only federal candidates for the general election. By contrast, if a U.S. citizen who will be 18 by the day of the general election, whose parents moved out of Pennsylvania the day before the individual was born, who lived his or her life abroad and did not establish residency in Pennsylvania is not considered a “federal elector,” and cannot vote in either federal or state elections in Pennsylvania.