Subchapter VII. Further Relief
50 U.S.C. § 4025: Military Voting Residency for You and Your Spouse
Official heading: Guarantee of residency for military personnel and spouses of military personnel
In one line
For voting in federal, state, and local elections, being away from your State on military orders (or accompanying a spouse who is) does not cost you your residence there or make you a resident anywhere else.
- A spouse may elect to use the servicemember’s residence for voting regardless of when the marriage occurred
Text checked October 9, 2026
What § 4025 does to your money
Voting residence travels with tax residence in practice, which is why it belongs on a money site. Under § 4025, being absent from a state on military orders does not, by itself, cost you your residence or domicile there for voting in federal, state or local elections, whether or not you intend to return, and does not make you a resident of the state where you are stationed.
A spouse absent from the same state to accompany you on orders gets the same protection, and may elect to use your residence for voting regardless of when you married. That mirrors the tax election in § 4001(a)(3).
Keep the two consistent. Registering to vote in your duty state is one of the facts a state can weigh in deciding where you are domiciled for tax, so a registration in the wrong state can undercut a no-income-tax home. Check both before you register. The protection is against losing residence solely because of the absence. Other steps that point to a new domicile, such as buying a home and registering a car in the duty state, can change the analysis.
The full text of 50 U.S.C. § 4025
From the United States Code, 2024 Edition, current through January 6, 2025, as published by the U.S. Government Publishing Office on GovInfo (retrieved October 10, 2026). No amendment enacted after the edition cutoff was found on Cornell LII or in GovInfo’s compiled SCRA (amended through Pub. L. 118-159, Dec. 23, 2024). House style: the Code’s em dashes before a list are shown as colons, and en dashes as hyphens or “to”; no word of the text is changed.
(a) In general
For the purposes of voting for any Federal office (as defined in section 30101 of title 52) or a State or local office, a person who is absent from a State in compliance with military or naval orders shall not, solely by reason of that absence:
(1) be deemed to have lost a residence or domicile in that State, without regard to whether or not the person intends to return to that State;
(2) be deemed to have acquired a residence or domicile in any other State; or
(3) be deemed to have become a resident in or a resident of any other State.
(b) Spouses
For the purposes of voting for any Federal office (as defined in section 30101 of title 52) or a State or local office:
(1) a person who is absent from a State because the person is accompanying the person's spouse who is absent from that same State in compliance with military or naval orders shall not, solely by reason of that absence:
(A) be deemed to have lost a residence or domicile in that State, without regard to whether or not the person intends to return to that State;
(B) be deemed to have acquired a residence or domicile in any other State; or
(C) be deemed to have become a resident in or a resident of any other State; and
(2) the spouse of a servicemember may elect to use the same residence as the servicemember regardless of the date on which the marriage of the spouse and the servicemember occurred.
Enacted and amended by: (Oct. 17, 1940, ch. 888, title VII, §705, as added Pub. L. 108-189, §1, Dec. 19, 2003, 117 Stat. 2865; amended Pub. L. 111-97, §2(a), Nov. 11, 2009, 123 Stat. 3007; Pub. L. 115-407, title III, §303(a), Dec. 31, 2018, 132 Stat. 5373.)
What changed, and when
The Office of the Law Revision Counsel’s amendment notes for § 4025, newest first.
- 2018: Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 115-407 substituted "State or local office: " for "State or local office, a person who is absent from a State because the person is accompanying the person's spouse who is absent from that same State in compliance with military or naval orders shall not, solely by reason of that absence: " in introductory provisions, added pars. (1) and (2), and struck out former pars. (1) to (3) which read as follows: "(1) be deemed to have lost a residence or domicile in that State, without regard to whether or not the person intends to return to that State; "(2) be deemed to have acquired a residence or domicile in any other State; or "(3) be deemed to have become a resident in or a resident of any other State."
- 2009: Pub. L. 111-97 inserted "and spouses of military personnel" after "military personnel" in section catchline, designated existing provisions as subsec.(a), inserted heading, and added subsec. (b).
Effective date: Section applicable to any case not final before Dec. 19, 2003, see section 3 of Pub. L. 108-189, set out as a note under section 3901 of this title.
Every section of the Act, including the short administrative ones without their own page, is on the section-by-section index.
Heads up: SCRA Saver publishes general information, not legal or financial advice. Laws change and every situation differs. Confirm details with your installation legal assistance office (free for service members) or a licensed professional.