Five Questions With Democrats Abroad

How to Vote From Abroad

Roughly nine million Americans live abroad. Six million of them are eligible to vote. But not all of them know that. Some aren’t aware that they can do it and that it’s easy to do. VoteFromAbroad.org, run by the group Democrats Abroad, makes it easy to register and request ballots. The group is nonpartisan and committed to helping all Americans abroad exercise their right to vote.

Democrats Abroad has 52 country committees throughout Europe, the Americas, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. Members live in more than 190 countries around the globe and vote in every state and U.S. Congressional district. In 2020, more than 1.25 million Americans abroad registered or requested ballots, more than 900,000 sent their ballots back, and states reported that they counted 889,837 overseas ballots. That means roughly five million Americans who are eligible to vote from abroad didn’t. We can help close that gap! Read on.

We’re joined tonight for “Five Questions With” by Martha McDevitt-Pugh, the global chair and secretary for Democrats Abroad, and by Julia Bryan, a Democratic National Committee member representing Democrats Abroad who also serves as the Vice Chair of Democrats Abroad Czech Republic.

“Five Questions” is a feature for paid subscribers of Civil Discourse, my way of thanking people who are able to support this work financially so I can devote the time and resources necessary to it, but tonight’s topic is so important that a key piece of information, the website Americans abroad can use to register and vote, is linked right here. Please make sure you share the group’s online voter registration tool - votefromabroad.org - with all the voting-eligible Americans abroad that you know, and with others who can reach them. The website makes it easy to request a ballot and vote absentee from any place on the planet.

I’m grateful to all of you who are here, both paid and free subscribers. We’re doing the hard but essential work of civil discourse together!

Joyce: Are there a lot of Americans abroad who are eligible to vote? And do all of them know it?

Democrats Abroad: The U.S. State Department estimates there are about 9 million U.S. citizens abroad, or 6.5 million 18 and over.

Of these 6.5 million, only 1.25 million were registered to vote in 2020 as UOCAVA voters. So yes, many Americans abroad don’t know they can vote, how to vote, and that their vote can make a difference in elections back home.

Joyce: The Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA), is the law that governs rules for voters abroad. What does it require people to do if they want to vote, and are there different rules for members of the military and citizens living abroad? What do each of them need to do in order to vote?

Democrats Abroad: To make sure your ballot is federally protected by UOCAVA, any U.S. citizen interested in voting from abroad needs to fill in a Federal Postcard Application, or FPCA form, and send it back to the local election office in the district where you last resided before moving abroad. We need to do this every calendar year we want to vote in order to trigger that federal protection and make sure we receive a ballot. By registering as a UOCAVA voter, voters receive special rights that state absentee voters do not always enjoy, as well as the federal protection of our right to vote.

Note that every state has a different set of deadlines and requirements for how they would like to receive their FPCA form, so it is important to double check your state’s rules. VoteFromAbroad.org and FVAP.gov are both designed to help UOCAVA voters fill in their form and send it back to the correct local election office. 

Note that some states, like California, automatically send out ballots as long as you have voted within a certain period of time, but the vast majority do not.

Joyce: What kind of support does Democrats Abroad offer to help people vote. Are there specific resources we can point people to?

Democrats Abroad: We help potential voters at every step of the way, from awareness building, to voter registration, to ballot return and voter protection.

We recommend that U.S. citizens interested in voting go to VoteFromAbroad.org to get started. You can register or request your ballot, find information about your state’s deadlines and ballot return requirements, and even chat online with our helpdesk.  

Joyce: Historically, what have the turnout numbers looked like for voters abroad? What are you expecting this year? And, we see so much about voter suppression aimed at Democrats in the United States. Are there any efforts to suppress the rights of voters who live abroad that they need to be aware of?

Democrats Abroad: In 2020, Democrats Abroad proudly helped grow the civilian vote abroad 73.5% over 2016. We’re working hard to expand the vote abroad even more this year, as well as help to continue to reduce rejection rates of ballots (we helped reduce rejection rates of ballots from 5.7% in 2018 to 2.1% in 2020 through our voter support work).

Voter protection is another massive element of the work that we do within Democrats Abroad. We have a global team dedicated to this task, and we partner with the DNC and state party teams on voter protection issues as well.

Issues that Americans abroad face when voting are myriad and include:

• States or counties may geo-block voter sites so their abroad voters can’t access them from outside the U.S. 

• Local election officials don’t realize that U.S. citizens can vote and deny registration. (U.S. citizens who resided in the States may always vote where they last resided before moving abroad, regardless of if they still maintain residency there or not. The last place you resided might be the parking lot of a pizza place — you can still register there.)

• Local election officials may not realize that children born abroad of U.S. citizens may vote in their state and deny registration. (Thirteen states do not allow this, but the remaining states do.)

• UOCAVA ballots may not include correct information and need to be reissued. (UOCAVA voters may always vote in federal elections, which include President, Senate, and U.S. House of Representatives. Some county officials are not aware of the definition of federal elections, and we have had to request that they update ballots to include U.S. House races.) 

• State purges of voter rolls.

• Local election offices may have logistical challenges with receiving ballots and need to be nudged to ensure that they are set up to do so.
  (For example, in Florida it is permissible to fax your ballot back. This works if the election office has fax paper and ink on hand and the fax machine turned on. We worked with the Florida state party in 2020 to ensure that the counties were prepared to receive these ballots.) 

It’s important to note that the vast majority of state election officials are not deliberately trying to deny your right to vote. That said, if you have a problem registering to vote or receiving your ballot, do not wait, and get in touch right away to make sure we can help you make sure your vote is counted and your voice is heard. 

Joyce: In addition to forwarding the newsletter to every American citizen voter they’re in touch with who lives abroad, including members of the military, what can readers of Civil Discourse do to help raise awareness that Americans abroad can vote? How can we support the work you’re doing?

Democrats Abroad: It’s important to make sure people realize just how many Americans abroad there are and the opportunities that exist for our votes to help make a difference back home. 

We send our ballots back to the local election offices where we last lived, and our votes help cover the margin in tight elections. Votes from abroad were the deciding factor in President Biden’s win in Arizona and Georgia in 2020, and in many other wins up and down the ballot over the years. We want to make sure that we are doing our part again this year.

You can help by making sure anyone abroad you know has registered or requested their ballot at votefromabroad.org. You can share information about voting abroad on your social channels. (Samuel L Jackson just did!).

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Combine the five million Americans who could have voted in 2020 and didn’t with the importance of votes abroad in Arizona and Georgia that year, and you have a definitive reason for all of us to get engaged with voting abroad. Every vote is going to matter this fall.

We’re in this together,

Joyce