50 signatures reached
To: MoveOn
MoveOn: Support overseas military APO addresses
MoveOn should include AE, AP, and AA as state abbreviation options in the drop down menu of their mailing campaigns. These addresses are associated with U.S. military installations overseas and are treated as domestic U.S. zip codes by the U.S. Postal Service. Currently, MoveOn does not allow for APO addresses due to not having these included as state selection options and is therefore excluding U.S. military and DoD civilians stationed overseas.
Why is this important?
The most essential reason this is important is that it sends a signal from MoveOn to the U.S. military community that we are not worth including in their movement or campaigns. This in turn seems to reinforce the notion that the military is a monolith of conservatism, which is not borne out in the data, particularly amongst the younger, diverse, enlisted ranks (see: https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-soldiers-really-vote/).
Further, there are a large contingent of civilians, including teachers and other education professionals, living and working on military installations who exclusively rely on their APO address and are therefore prohibited from participating and receiving similar treatment as living in the U.S. and teaching at public schools. These teachers physically reside overseas, but retain a U.S. domestic mailing address through their APOs and teach at U.S. public schools.
Then there is the matter of the USPS itself. Recently, MoveOn pushed a campaign, including a petition, to save the USPS from its current difficulties and threats by the POTUS to defund and disband the service. Those associated with overseas military installations rely exclusively on the USPS for their mail and packages, making it all the more ironic for those of us who supported that campaign whilst MoveOn continues to not support us through inclusion. MoveOn could do more for the USPS by including APOs than they might imagine.
Don't exclude military and military associated personnel oversees from participating in MoveOn. The matter of adding APO addresses to the drop down menu and including our domestically-treated mailing addresses to the campaigns would be an easy, minor fix comparative to the gains of including those of us otherwise supportive of MoveOn.
Further, there are a large contingent of civilians, including teachers and other education professionals, living and working on military installations who exclusively rely on their APO address and are therefore prohibited from participating and receiving similar treatment as living in the U.S. and teaching at public schools. These teachers physically reside overseas, but retain a U.S. domestic mailing address through their APOs and teach at U.S. public schools.
Then there is the matter of the USPS itself. Recently, MoveOn pushed a campaign, including a petition, to save the USPS from its current difficulties and threats by the POTUS to defund and disband the service. Those associated with overseas military installations rely exclusively on the USPS for their mail and packages, making it all the more ironic for those of us who supported that campaign whilst MoveOn continues to not support us through inclusion. MoveOn could do more for the USPS by including APOs than they might imagine.
Don't exclude military and military associated personnel oversees from participating in MoveOn. The matter of adding APO addresses to the drop down menu and including our domestically-treated mailing addresses to the campaigns would be an easy, minor fix comparative to the gains of including those of us otherwise supportive of MoveOn.