Planning to mail in an absentee ballot for the 2018 election? It's time to stop planning and start doing.

While deadlines vary by state, Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP) officials recommend that all stateside servicemembers and their families have their ballots in the mail by Friday to ensure their votes are counted. If you requested a ballot from your home jurisdiction and never received it, visit the FVAP website to download a copy of the Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot (FWAB).

FVAP also maintains ballot deadline information for each state. Most states require ballots to arrive by Election Day to be counted, though some require the ballot to be postmarked by that date and arrive within a set number of days after the election. FVAP recommended that all overseas servicemembers and families send in ballots by Oct. 19, but some still may beat state deadlines (especially if mailed properly).

[RELATED: MOAA Absentee Voting Guide]

The FVAP pages with state information also provide links that allow voters to track the status of their ballots. That feature could come as news for some voters: A recent survey by MOAA and Syracuse University's Institute for Veterans and Military Families (IVMF) found that 65 percent of active duty servicemembers and 69 percent of their spouses who responded said they didn't know they could check a ballot's status online.

The same survey, which was funded via a grant from the Democracy Fund, showed only 40 percent of active duty spouse respondents thought it was easy to find absentee voting information, and that only 36 percent of them voted in every election. Only 27 percent of military spouse respondents said they felt encouraged to vote, compared with 70 percent of active duty servicemembers who took the survey.

[RELATED: Military Spouses Face Absentee Voting Obstacles]

“The MOAA Military Voting Survey was one of several MOAA Foundation programs helping military and veteran families of all ranks maintain a quality of life they've earned through their service,” said Col. Mike Turner, USAF (Ret), MOAA Vice President of Development.

The foundation, which depends on donations from MOAA members, will begin its annual campaign on Giving Tuesday (Nov. 27). Learn more, or donate, here.