Lowest military voter turnout expected in US history

The last presidential election saw an already small number of 20% voter participation. This is expected to drop even further, making this the lowest military voter turnout in recorded history.

Military voter participation has been consistently low. The problem lies mainly in the constant movement of soldiers. Two-thirds of military personnel live out-of-state or abroad, and as a result need to vote by absentee ballot.

Analysts say these can be very hard to get, as each state has different laws, deadlines, and other red tape complicating the process of voting.

As a result, absentee ballot requests have historically been low. But the numbers are significantly lower for this election so far than they were in the last election according to last month's MVPP report. Particularly in battleground states, where votes are believed to matter most, ballot numbers are drastically low. Florida saw a 46% decrease in ballot requests while Virginia and Ohio both saw a whopping 70% drop.

Other issues have also contributed to lower military participation in elections like voter ID problems, being occupied by their duties and a overall attitude separating the military from politics.

Although voting numbers will increase, they aren't expected to reach those of the last presidential election.

The deadline to register to vote has already passed in 25 states and many others will reach their deadlines in the next week. But with the elections taking place in less than a month, its looking more and more likely that this will indeed be the lowest voter turnout in U.S. military history.