Tens of thousands of Self-Defense Forces personnel will vote in local elections this month by absentee ballot because they have been deployed to disaster zones since March 11, the Defense Ministry said Tuesday.
It will be the largest-ever absentee balloting by SDF members since around 2,000 voted by mail in the Lower House election in 2009, when they were dispatched to the Indian Ocean to provide refueling support for U.S.-led antiterrorism operations.
Personnel who receive ballots by mail from their municipalities can cast their votes at City Halls and other public facilities located near their deployment areas, according to ministry officials. They started casting ballots Monday.