18 U.S.C. § 608
Section 608 · Absent uniformed services voters and overseas voters
This is § 202 of the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 70 court decisions — leading case Buckley v. Valeo (1976)
Most recently applied in 99 F. Supp. 3d 123 - Holmes v. Federal Election Commission (April 2015)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
(a) Whoever knowingly deprives or attempts to deprive any person of a right under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act shall be fined in accordance with this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.
(b) Whoever knowingly gives false information for the purpose of establishing the eligibility of any person to register or vote under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, or pays or offers to pay, or accepts payment for registering or voting under such Act shall be fined in accordance with this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
References in Text
The Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, referred to in text, is Pub. L. 99–410, Aug. 28, 1986, 100 Stat. 924, which is classified principally to subchapter I–G (§1973ff et seq.) of chapter 20 of Title 42, The Public Health and Welfare. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Short Title note set out under section 1973ff of Title 42 and Tables.
Prior Provisions
A prior section 608, acts June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 723; Feb. 7, 1972, Pub. L. 92–225, title II, §203, 86 Stat. 9; Oct. 15, 1974, Pub. L. 93–443, title I, §101(a), (b), 88 Stat. 1263, 1266, set limitations on campaign contributions and expenditures, prior to repeal by Pub. L. 94–283, title II, §201(a), May 11, 1976, 90 Stat. 496. See section 441a of Title 2, The Congress.
Effective Date
Section applicable with respect to elections taking place after Dec. 31, 1987, see section 204 of Pub. L. 99–410, set out as a note under section 1973ff of Title 42, The Public Health and Welfare.