Voting Information for U.S. expats

To all U.S. citizens. The mid-term elections are fast approaching in November and there’s plenty of time to register to vote or request an absentee ballot. It is an easy process and can be done online. Just click here:

http://www.fvap.gov/ocit.html

This site will take you to your state of residence and has all the forms and procedures. All states are now required to send you an absentee ballot electronically.

If you are an American citizen, that is, you have a US passport; you are eligible to vote, no matter how long you have been out of country. In fact, some states allow you to vote even if you are a citizen who has never set foot in the US.

It is very important to cast your vote, no matter what your political persuasion. In some states (like my home state of Nevada), you can even vote for “none of the above”, a feature I use a lot. Interestingly, the election last Tuesday in Alaska is still up in the air. It is so close that the absentee ballots will decide the outcome, so your vote does count.

Even if you don’t care to vote for whatever reason, it is still important for expats to register and request an absentee ballot, even if you just send it in blank. Politicians pay attention to the number of absentee ballots, and the larger the number of overseas voters, the more they will consider this in the legislation they pass. For example, the recent healthcare legislation originally required expats to buy insurance (that they can’t use) or pay a fine. There was even a proposal at one time to charge expats a tax surcharge to help fund the program. These were defeated thanks to the efforts of some lobbyists for expats and I am sure they reminded the legislators of the large number of expats who vote.

So all you Yanks, click on the above and let’s show the legislators in Washington that we are Americans, we exist, and we vote.

Jimbo..

Have been voting absentee for many years...Now they have started email absentee voting...They send me the ballot and affidavit as PDF files to the email...

I can either fax the completed ballot back or mail it...

Not quite to the stage of voting over the internet, but it must be the next step..

Stoneman