Paperwork Reduction Act
1980 US law requiring federal approval of government information-collection forms.
The Paperwork Reduction Act's emergency clearance route let the Pentagon revise two overseas voting forms in late August 2026, removing a box for citizens WHO have never lived in the United States weeks before overseas ballots went out.
Last refreshed: 1 October 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
Timeline for Paperwork Reduction Act
Mentioned in: Pentagon cuts a box from overseas forms
US Midterms 2026Background
The Paperwork Reduction Act bars a federal agency from collecting information from the public unless the Office of Management and Budget has approved the collection and issued a control number for the form. First passed in 1980 (Pub. L. 96-511), it was rewritten in 1995 (Pub. L. 104-13) and is codified at 44 U.S.C. 3501 onwards.
OMB rules allow emergency approval when normal clearance would risk public harm, follows an unforeseen event or would miss a statutory or court Deadline. The regulation caps an emergency control number at 90 days; the statute allows up to 180.
That route carried the Pentagon's overseas voting change through in weeks. The Federal Voting Assistance Program used emergency approval to revise both overseas voting forms, the POST card application and the write-in backup ballot, and OMB approved both on 28 August 2026 for six months. The federal Deadline for sending overseas ballots followed on 19 September.
What is the Paperwork Reduction Act?
What is an emergency Paperwork Reduction Act approval?
How was the Paperwork Reduction Act used to change overseas voting forms in 2026?
