As a former Army COL, I can assure you the Army strongly urged soldiers to vote and made it easy enough to do so. And, they encouraged spouses of soldiers, nannies, grand parents living with soldiers, to also vote. It really helped and I saw a number of young people vote for the first time due to the army effort!
I know that in the Country I am living in, in Germany, there is a huge military population, particularly in Wiesbaden. A former colleague of mine is teaching on the base there, and also, in my Democrats Abroad Project 2025 book club one of our group is married to a serviceman in Wiesbaden. I think it is great that the military encourages people to vote.
Whatever the rules are, every heroic, patriotic servicemember around the world should be voting Blue after what......miscreant, quisling, rebel, snake, sneak, snitch, snitcher, squealer, tattletale, traducer,.....Trump did in Arlington Cemetary.
I once lived in Florence, Italy after being a vagabond for a few months. I enjoyed interacting with the civilized world always disparaging my native land. After observing how raucous drunken Australians got in the nightclub where I worked,I ruminated that they were incredibly worse behaving that our common-grade American. So me thinks, what will I do if Trump wins? Well that was an easy conclusion to reach. I’ll return to Europe to live out my remaining years. And where would I go? Italy? 🇮🇹 Hum… They now have their own mini Musilinni to contend with. I could head north to the Nordic regions. Plenty of civilization there. Ah but Portugal sounds like a good bet. I like Portuguese people and I like their food. Besides they are along the Atlantic coast in case I need to escape an incoming dictatorship and need to make another quick getaway this time to Africa for safety.
Has there been any effort to contact colleges and universities to find out/get a list of students that are studying abroad? So many schools offer study abroad programs that I can only assume that there are a LOT of votes out there????
My daughter, who is a dual citizen is studying abroad. It was somewhat complex for her to register to vote, because there is a lot of contacting the polling place, and sending in forms, and then also if you want your email ballot you have to unregister from registering to vote from abroad in our state or city and just email them that you want this, and you will not see it anywhere listed that you get an email ballot. It is quite concerning that this is not set up well. Then, even if you get your ballot emailed, in my state you have to snail mail it back. It all sounds like no big deal, but when you are 19, you never use email except for things like the campus communication, and probably your parents need to remind you to check it half the time. Secondly, voting takes extra effort and you are operating at more extra effort already to be studying away from home, and add in learning how things are done in your new country, and you get complexity of life. Also, what is going on in the USA can seem far away if you are not a news junky, which Gen-Zers tend not to be. If so, they get their news from their parents and social media. My daughter's email contact is for her online business selling used clothing items. She also buys from other people using this same platform, otherwise she does not really look at her emails, unless she is expecting something. Very different from her dad and me, who check our emails every day. I know that another mom in Democrats Abroad in my city has a daughter who has never lived in the US, but she is voting in this election. Her mom is a poli-sci professor, and I am sure she knows how things work in the US.
You’re correct — there can be a lot of red tape, and my sons (in their mid 20s) still rely on me to herd them through the process. But it’s very, very important to me that they vote and so I figure this is part of my Harris campaign efforts:)
Margaret, I am right there with you. Of course your sons are still new voters and need that support. Now that my early to mid 20s, niece and nephews have lost their mom, I am particularly going to help make sure that they get support to actually vote. My daughter is getting my support too and counts on me to make sure that she has done what she needs to and can discuss the voting process. It is about their future.
Linda there are indeed multiple steps for voting from abroad! I work with a group of trained volunteers to help US citizens in the UK vote in the US, and we spend a lot of time with the study abroad population. In order to register and request, all citizens have to do is fill out the one-page FPCA form and it's easy on votefromabroad.org. In many cases, they doesn't even have to print out the form--they can take a photo of their signature with their phone, the site will then put the signature on the form and allow the voter to email it to their local election official. All contact details are provided by the site. It's true that twenty states still require the ballot to be postal mailed back, and that can be a challenge for younger voters. We have taught many a student how to address an envelope and where to put the stamp! Please ask your daughter to follow votefromabroad.org and students.votefromabroad.org on Instagram and other social media platforms, and share and like the links. There's great voting reminders and other voting info. And remind her that ballots start going out September 21, so she should look for it in her email and spam, then print it out, vote and postal mail the ballot back ASAP.
Thanks Laura. I have been on her to write an email to check whether she is getting her ballot via email. In Illinois, which link is not working to check whether you are registered, I had to go to Chicago Board of Elections to check. When we asked to get ballots by mail, they made us unregister from being registered abroad. There is actually no way to check online whether one is registered to get an email ballot. So, we have had to write to them to check. Getting her to fit this in mid-summer, or at the end now, has been challenging. But, if she gets it per email, even though she will have to print and mail it, she and I will go over her ballot together via Signal, using Screen share. We did this in the primary as well, since it was her first time voting other than in a special mayoral election. I have told her this, but she does not check her emails except for other things. I have been insisting on this. She cares, but things are not immediate for her.
I’ve voted from Australia, Canada and Switzerland over the last 20 years. I can’t recommend the Overseas Vote Foundation strongly enough. You choose the state that you last resided in (doesn’t matter if you no longer have an address there, you are still eligible to vote in that state), and they will walk you right through exactly what to do. Start today. The lead time can be long, because often you need to submit actual paperwork via snail mail and then the ballot needs to be mailed back to you and then you need to mail the ballot in by the election date. Be prepared to upload a photo of a form of identification when you start the process.
Bruce, your home state must allow you to return your ballots via email. My home state will send an email ballot, but we must return it by snail mail. Making me concerned, because the German government has told us that the mail will be slower now.
Yes Dave. Our regional leader gave us a list of which states allow faxing back, which allow emailing back and which require snail mail. My state of Illinois is really backwards in this process. After the election I might take the time to write regularly about this to all of the parties concerned. What is even worse is that to request that my ballot be emailed to me, I had to unrequest that it be sent abroad, and there is no record in my state of my getting a ballot via email. That does not show up anywhere, just my home address in the states. So, I have to contact the Chicago Board of Elections and trust their assurances that I will get my ballot via email. Can you imagine how this is for a college student who is studying abroad? This is too much communication and I had to ask several places and several times, and then I got an answer in 2 weeks. Worrisome because if I don't get the email ballot, then I will have to have my family in the states check to see if the ballot is mailed to me there and have them fill it out for me. I will in that case be asking a college student to manage that on top of his own ballot. Too much confusion. We shall see.
Bruce, two summers ago we mailed a letter to Germany at a cost of $72 for the second fastest rate it could get there and that took over 2 weeks. Normal mail from Germany to the US in March took 3 weeks to arrive. So, I do not trust that because not only is Germany slow, but my city in the US is slow too. Still, I am going to do everything I should and get my daughter to do this as well, which it hard, because we live such different lives. She has energy in the evening to do things late enough that I am ready to go to sleep. However, nagging helps. It will get done. Also, she has friends who are going to school in Georgia and Michigan. I told her to tell them to vote in the states where they go to school because their votes are needed. The mom of the student going in Georgia said that would not work because they already had a great difficulty trying to get her a DL there. I don't know the story on that. So, Georgia sounds like it is discouraging students from being able to register to vote. Then, her friend's parents own a house in Michigan and I told them to vote from there instead of Illinois, but they felt there was some problem with that too. I don't know if her friend going to University there has registered to vote. My daughter does not remember to tell them these things.
Sorry about the misread, I guess your daughter lived in Germany too, or lives. Anyways, could one hope for standardized voting procedures for US citizens out of the country?...Naaaaaah!
Hey Linda. Problematic indeed. Where did your daughter live before she went off to school in Georgia. That is usually the best place to register, and where she probaby had a DL. I here you about slow mail between home and Germany, for me it has been especially bad with packages (Zoll) and the outsourced mail routes (City Mail) here in Germany. We live on a farm about 2km from the nearest village (we are the only ones out here), so the City Mail guys simply don't want to do the drive, or the package guys go to the Zentrale, and they don't tell us something there. I've had two packages sent back to the USA, and most take months to get here and go through customs. I feel your pain, Linda.
Sorry for the lack of clarity Bruce. It is her friend that is in school in Georgia, my daughter is in Germany (no tuition), but all of her friends have their parent's homes in Illinois.
It's a good idea to not delay, but most states do NOT require the FPCA registration/ballot request to be postal mailed! You can often send it by email. The votefromabroad.org site will tell you your options depending on your voting state and whether or not you are already registered. ALL states will email ballots to voters outside the US, and thirty states allow some form of electronic ballot return--email, online upload or fax. Electronic ballot receipt and return are especially important for citizens living far away or in countries with poor postal service. However, federal law stipulates that abroad voters should get their ballots 45 days before federal elections--September 21 this year--and if you're on top of it, you should be able to get your ballot by in time to be counted by sending it ASAP.
I am a members of Dems Abroad in Mexico and I am making phone calls (Which I detest) to see if anyone needs help getting a ballot. There are a shocking number who do. Joyce, thanks for not forgetting those of us overseas.
Actually, one of our local members has to vote from the state in which was mainly living before coming to Germany, because he was not in the last state in which he resided long enough, where he was taking care of a parent in hospice for 3 months. So he votes from his previous state. My friend's daughter, who was born and raised in Germany can vote from her mom's last state of residence, which happens to be my state of residence too.
You're allowed to vote absentee in many states based on where your parent(s)/guardian was last domiciled, if you have never resided in the US. Here's a site from the Federal Voting Assistance Program with the info: https://www.fvap.gov/citizen-voter/reside
Please check the FAQs on votefromabroad.org. Abroad voters usually vote where they last resided--you are not 'claiming residence there' -- even if they left as children and have no ties to the address or the state. However if you have strong ties to another address or state, you can email your local election official and make your case and they can decide whether those ties are strong enough for you to use that state as your abroad voting state.
I have followed your column for some time and am now a paid member of your group. Thank you for your clear explanations of all things legal (and illegal). As a Canadian not knowledgable about american law it is very useful.
I’m registered to vote in my state of NC. Fortunately all Boards of Elections are headed by Democrats because we have a Democratic governor. Working with main registrar on the phone to re-register was a breeze. She was very helpful and using email with an electronic signature accomplished the deed. As soon as voting officially starts, I will receive a ballot via email and then vote Harris/Walz, a no brainer. Thanks Joyce. I’ll pass this on.
Thx for the reminder and push, Joyce. I have been putting off changing from still voting absentee in Seattle to via Dems Abroad for several years. As they both are absentee voting by email it did not seem important. This year it IS! Just did it and sent to others similar.
Vote Forward (https://votefwd.org/) does this too, and I have written letters to people abroad earlier this year with all the information they need. I feel that it is almost too late now, since getting ballots out and back takes time. I hope I'm wrong and it's well worth contacting people you know.
I voted from abroad some years ago while on a circumnavigation, difficult to know where you'll be and when, but I stayed in one place for a while due to hurricane season! I have wondered about the military, and truly hope they are given information as early as possible and getting ballots to service members expedited right away!
I wrote letters for Vote Forward this year as well. With our letter, we sent the forms needed to request a ballot. I made it a personal priority to get out as many as I could as I see this group a wealth of votes if we can tap it effectively.
The site is very user friendly - and the single most important message is this:
EVERY U.S. citizen has the right to vote in Federal elections, regardless of how long they have lived outside the United States. Go to the website VoteFromAbroad.org (which is Non-Partisan) and choose the state in which you last voted. The site will walk you through the process.
Here in Mexico south of Guadalajara on Lake Chapala, we have help desks set up every Monday at the Lake Chapala Society to help folks confirm their registrations, assist them in registration as necessary, and complete the necessary form to enable their states to email their ballots. This is true for Federal primaries as well as Presidential/Senatorial/Representative elections.
Sally, I am not the right resource for that question.
If you are a U.S. citizen (have a passport), I would suggest you get in touch with Democrats Abroad in the country in which you live. Regardless of your party affiliation or candidate preference, they will have someone who can help you to determine how to apply and obtain a ballot.
I am too new to the process to know the answer to your specific question.
Here is a state by state run down. Where a citizen parent or legal guardian was last domiciled is the determining factor. If the indicated state is not listed, contact the state election office for instructions. There is a link for that.
Sally, it is the state your parent or parents are voting from. After our local paper did an article on Democrats Abroad and we have a monthly dinner, one of the men that came has parents who immigrated to the US and became American, but he has never been to the US. So, he contacted us, he has his US passport, and one of the people in our group found his parent's address, and he is now registered to vote. Another person whose is from Virginia, but votes in Illinois because that is where she last lived, her daughter who was born and raised in Germany will vote in Illinois like her mom. She is 19 like my daughter.
Thank you, Joyce I forwarded this newsletter to my sister-in-law and her new husband. They moved to Portugal from Texas. Thank you for giving us this information. BTW Both are registered Democrats.
Hi Fay! I hope your sister in law and husband request their ballots ASAP! They can send in the form by email, but will have to print out and postal mail their ballot back. Ballots are supposed to go out to all abroad voters around September 21--so they should check their email/spam filter, print those ballots out and get them in the mail ASAP.
Thank you, Laura. I heard back from Denise this morning. They have already sent there voter registrations to Texas, and she hopes they will be honored. I resent the site for Voters Abroad and also reminded her about Democrats abroad. Things are looking more hopeful for Texas.
From my experience working in Austin Texas for their health and human services office, I'm not holding my breath. I was appalled by their State Legislative system where the elected State Legislators only meet every other year for 80 days - that gives their Governor and Executive office near dictatorship.
Thanks for this, Joyce. I’m an expat from NY living in Argentina for the last 12 years. Democrats Abroad has been incredibly helpful in answering my questions and making sure I have everything I need to cast my ballot. Over the years I’ve spoken to too many fellow expats who either didn’t know they could vote, didn’t know how to, or just wasn’t interested. I’m going to contact DA to see how I can volunteer to get the word out.
Just a note for other expats: here in Buenos Aires, all I need to do is drop my ballot off at the US Embassy and they send it for me, free of charge. Check the embassy in your country of residence; it’s much easier and more reliable than some of the postal systems abroad.
I live abroad and unfortunately the diplomatic pouch is one of the slowest ways to return ballots. It can take up to a month and there is no tracking that your ballot was sent. Another (expensive) option is via DHL.
Oh! You’re reminding me that I need to double-check the embassy mailing. During Covid they weren’t accepting the ballots so I had to send it via FedEx (and it was a fortune). I tracked it and it arrived but I had never thought to track when I sent it through the embassy. They gave us a deadline for the drop off so I assumed that the timing was fine. I’ll definitely be diligent about it this time.
Thank you Sandi for your offer to help! There are plenty of ideas on the democratsabroad.org website under the Take Action tab. Spread the word among all your citizen friends abroad. Re Embassy ballot return, it can be a great option as long as you are allowing plenty of time--it's important to get your ballot in early because Embassy mail doesn't go out every day, and it's sent to DC where it is put in the regular US mail, which is not so fast these days. If your state allows electronic ballot return options, these are the fastest of all.
Thank you Laura. If my memory is correct, the embassy gave us a cut-off date for drop-off but I’ll certainly check it out. I definitely can’t use the Argentine postal system because it will never get there. But I’ll walk on hot coals to make sure my vote is counted and we defeat Trump!
Thank you, Joyce. Sending info messages to my beloved writing group, three of whom are now living abroad. Gosh, as much as we have kvetched about this election situation online, we have not talked about how they would be able to vote this time while out of the US. Yikes!
I vote from Australia easier than many local Americans it seems. My California ballot arrives in the mail. I vote. I send it back! Voila! All voting could be this easy if the post office would cooperate!
California allows abroad voters to get their ballots by email AND return them by FAX! Recommended for people in Australia for sure. https://www.votefromabroad.org/faqs/RT4
Joyce, I am SOOOO glad to see this! This subject is incredibly important. Every vote counts!! My dual nationality sister, and her dual nationality adult sons, live abroad, are registered ( not easy) and ready to vote for Harris. My sister is 100% on to this topic and has many superb ideas/examples about how Americans overseas are “neglected” by the US government. How can I send this post from Substack to her? Thanks a mil….!!! By golly this is a great post but of course I’m not surprised because it’s JOYCE!
I voted from China for 6 years. Fortunately, Kentucky made it easy. The ballot request can be done online. After that is processed, the ballot, inner envelop, outer envelope, and instructions can all be downloaded and printed. Once everything is signed and sealed, it just needs to be sent to the US. In my case, I was always able to give the ballot visiting from one of the companies US offices to take it back to the US. Then it could be dropped in any mailbox and go postage paid to my county clerk’s office. It’s sad that so many states try and make voting harder than it needs to be.
As a former Army COL, I can assure you the Army strongly urged soldiers to vote and made it easy enough to do so. And, they encouraged spouses of soldiers, nannies, grand parents living with soldiers, to also vote. It really helped and I saw a number of young people vote for the first time due to the army effort!
I know that in the Country I am living in, in Germany, there is a huge military population, particularly in Wiesbaden. A former colleague of mine is teaching on the base there, and also, in my Democrats Abroad Project 2025 book club one of our group is married to a serviceman in Wiesbaden. I think it is great that the military encourages people to vote.
The military has a separate set of rules. https://www.fvap.gov/military-voter
Whatever the rules are, every heroic, patriotic servicemember around the world should be voting Blue after what......miscreant, quisling, rebel, snake, sneak, snitch, snitcher, squealer, tattletale, traducer,.....Trump did in Arlington Cemetary.
Traitors all Trumph supporters!
A pox on them
Daniel, are these for civilian members of the military too? The website looks the same as the Vote from Abroad in terms of what it is telling them.
I once lived in Florence, Italy after being a vagabond for a few months. I enjoyed interacting with the civilized world always disparaging my native land. After observing how raucous drunken Australians got in the nightclub where I worked,I ruminated that they were incredibly worse behaving that our common-grade American. So me thinks, what will I do if Trump wins? Well that was an easy conclusion to reach. I’ll return to Europe to live out my remaining years. And where would I go? Italy? 🇮🇹 Hum… They now have their own mini Musilinni to contend with. I could head north to the Nordic regions. Plenty of civilization there. Ah but Portugal sounds like a good bet. I like Portuguese people and I like their food. Besides they are along the Atlantic coast in case I need to escape an incoming dictatorship and need to make another quick getaway this time to Africa for safety.
My wife is Canadian!
They are an incredible people !
That is my first choice!
Next action would be like Thoreau. . and pay no federal taxes and bankrupt Trumphs corrupt 2025 regime.
Africa and safe...........uh don't really go together.
My wackamoly sense of humor.
OH OK !
Has there been any effort to contact colleges and universities to find out/get a list of students that are studying abroad? So many schools offer study abroad programs that I can only assume that there are a LOT of votes out there????
Excellent initiative, Stephanie!
My daughter, who is a dual citizen is studying abroad. It was somewhat complex for her to register to vote, because there is a lot of contacting the polling place, and sending in forms, and then also if you want your email ballot you have to unregister from registering to vote from abroad in our state or city and just email them that you want this, and you will not see it anywhere listed that you get an email ballot. It is quite concerning that this is not set up well. Then, even if you get your ballot emailed, in my state you have to snail mail it back. It all sounds like no big deal, but when you are 19, you never use email except for things like the campus communication, and probably your parents need to remind you to check it half the time. Secondly, voting takes extra effort and you are operating at more extra effort already to be studying away from home, and add in learning how things are done in your new country, and you get complexity of life. Also, what is going on in the USA can seem far away if you are not a news junky, which Gen-Zers tend not to be. If so, they get their news from their parents and social media. My daughter's email contact is for her online business selling used clothing items. She also buys from other people using this same platform, otherwise she does not really look at her emails, unless she is expecting something. Very different from her dad and me, who check our emails every day. I know that another mom in Democrats Abroad in my city has a daughter who has never lived in the US, but she is voting in this election. Her mom is a poli-sci professor, and I am sure she knows how things work in the US.
You’re correct — there can be a lot of red tape, and my sons (in their mid 20s) still rely on me to herd them through the process. But it’s very, very important to me that they vote and so I figure this is part of my Harris campaign efforts:)
Margaret, I am right there with you. Of course your sons are still new voters and need that support. Now that my early to mid 20s, niece and nephews have lost their mom, I am particularly going to help make sure that they get support to actually vote. My daughter is getting my support too and counts on me to make sure that she has done what she needs to and can discuss the voting process. It is about their future.
Very useful info, Linda. Thanks.
Linda there are indeed multiple steps for voting from abroad! I work with a group of trained volunteers to help US citizens in the UK vote in the US, and we spend a lot of time with the study abroad population. In order to register and request, all citizens have to do is fill out the one-page FPCA form and it's easy on votefromabroad.org. In many cases, they doesn't even have to print out the form--they can take a photo of their signature with their phone, the site will then put the signature on the form and allow the voter to email it to their local election official. All contact details are provided by the site. It's true that twenty states still require the ballot to be postal mailed back, and that can be a challenge for younger voters. We have taught many a student how to address an envelope and where to put the stamp! Please ask your daughter to follow votefromabroad.org and students.votefromabroad.org on Instagram and other social media platforms, and share and like the links. There's great voting reminders and other voting info. And remind her that ballots start going out September 21, so she should look for it in her email and spam, then print it out, vote and postal mail the ballot back ASAP.
Thanks Laura. I have been on her to write an email to check whether she is getting her ballot via email. In Illinois, which link is not working to check whether you are registered, I had to go to Chicago Board of Elections to check. When we asked to get ballots by mail, they made us unregister from being registered abroad. There is actually no way to check online whether one is registered to get an email ballot. So, we have had to write to them to check. Getting her to fit this in mid-summer, or at the end now, has been challenging. But, if she gets it per email, even though she will have to print and mail it, she and I will go over her ballot together via Signal, using Screen share. We did this in the primary as well, since it was her first time voting other than in a special mayoral election. I have told her this, but she does not check her emails except for other things. I have been insisting on this. She cares, but things are not immediate for her.
Also, votefromabroad.org has a site on the landing page where anyone can sign up for one-on-one help via Zoom!
Great idea that is time sensitive!
I’ve voted from Australia, Canada and Switzerland over the last 20 years. I can’t recommend the Overseas Vote Foundation strongly enough. You choose the state that you last resided in (doesn’t matter if you no longer have an address there, you are still eligible to vote in that state), and they will walk you right through exactly what to do. Start today. The lead time can be long, because often you need to submit actual paperwork via snail mail and then the ballot needs to be mailed back to you and then you need to mail the ballot in by the election date. Be prepared to upload a photo of a form of identification when you start the process.
I have been doing it all on line since 2018. Real simple. Our Chapter of DAB is funding up to make a push on expats here in Germany.
Bruce, your home state must allow you to return your ballots via email. My home state will send an email ballot, but we must return it by snail mail. Making me concerned, because the German government has told us that the mail will be slower now.
As mentioned in the article, Florida allows me to fax my ballot back from Germany. :-)
Yes Dave. Our regional leader gave us a list of which states allow faxing back, which allow emailing back and which require snail mail. My state of Illinois is really backwards in this process. After the election I might take the time to write regularly about this to all of the parties concerned. What is even worse is that to request that my ballot be emailed to me, I had to unrequest that it be sent abroad, and there is no record in my state of my getting a ballot via email. That does not show up anywhere, just my home address in the states. So, I have to contact the Chicago Board of Elections and trust their assurances that I will get my ballot via email. Can you imagine how this is for a college student who is studying abroad? This is too much communication and I had to ask several places and several times, and then I got an answer in 2 weeks. Worrisome because if I don't get the email ballot, then I will have to have my family in the states check to see if the ballot is mailed to me there and have them fill it out for me. I will in that case be asking a college student to manage that on top of his own ballot. Too much confusion. We shall see.
Yes, Linda...South Carolina allows email. I wouldn't worry too much about the "Bundespost", just add 3 days to your normal timing, I would think.
Bruce, two summers ago we mailed a letter to Germany at a cost of $72 for the second fastest rate it could get there and that took over 2 weeks. Normal mail from Germany to the US in March took 3 weeks to arrive. So, I do not trust that because not only is Germany slow, but my city in the US is slow too. Still, I am going to do everything I should and get my daughter to do this as well, which it hard, because we live such different lives. She has energy in the evening to do things late enough that I am ready to go to sleep. However, nagging helps. It will get done. Also, she has friends who are going to school in Georgia and Michigan. I told her to tell them to vote in the states where they go to school because their votes are needed. The mom of the student going in Georgia said that would not work because they already had a great difficulty trying to get her a DL there. I don't know the story on that. So, Georgia sounds like it is discouraging students from being able to register to vote. Then, her friend's parents own a house in Michigan and I told them to vote from there instead of Illinois, but they felt there was some problem with that too. I don't know if her friend going to University there has registered to vote. My daughter does not remember to tell them these things.
Sorry about the misread, I guess your daughter lived in Germany too, or lives. Anyways, could one hope for standardized voting procedures for US citizens out of the country?...Naaaaaah!
Yes. She lives in Germany too, but in a different city from me.
Hey Linda. Problematic indeed. Where did your daughter live before she went off to school in Georgia. That is usually the best place to register, and where she probaby had a DL. I here you about slow mail between home and Germany, for me it has been especially bad with packages (Zoll) and the outsourced mail routes (City Mail) here in Germany. We live on a farm about 2km from the nearest village (we are the only ones out here), so the City Mail guys simply don't want to do the drive, or the package guys go to the Zentrale, and they don't tell us something there. I've had two packages sent back to the USA, and most take months to get here and go through customs. I feel your pain, Linda.
Sorry for the lack of clarity Bruce. It is her friend that is in school in Georgia, my daughter is in Germany (no tuition), but all of her friends have their parent's homes in Illinois.
It's a good idea to not delay, but most states do NOT require the FPCA registration/ballot request to be postal mailed! You can often send it by email. The votefromabroad.org site will tell you your options depending on your voting state and whether or not you are already registered. ALL states will email ballots to voters outside the US, and thirty states allow some form of electronic ballot return--email, online upload or fax. Electronic ballot receipt and return are especially important for citizens living far away or in countries with poor postal service. However, federal law stipulates that abroad voters should get their ballots 45 days before federal elections--September 21 this year--and if you're on top of it, you should be able to get your ballot by in time to be counted by sending it ASAP.
Yes. I am voting from Germany, and I have had to upload my US passport photo.
I am a members of Dems Abroad in Mexico and I am making phone calls (Which I detest) to see if anyone needs help getting a ballot. There are a shocking number who do. Joyce, thanks for not forgetting those of us overseas.
Still time to register more Democrats abroad, but time is of the essence.
So if a person registers to vote in a foreign country, which state do they claim residence in?
Actually, one of our local members has to vote from the state in which was mainly living before coming to Germany, because he was not in the last state in which he resided long enough, where he was taking care of a parent in hospice for 3 months. So he votes from his previous state. My friend's daughter, who was born and raised in Germany can vote from her mom's last state of residence, which happens to be my state of residence too.
You're allowed to vote absentee in many states based on where your parent(s)/guardian was last domiciled, if you have never resided in the US. Here's a site from the Federal Voting Assistance Program with the info: https://www.fvap.gov/citizen-voter/reside
Please check the FAQs on votefromabroad.org. Abroad voters usually vote where they last resided--you are not 'claiming residence there' -- even if they left as children and have no ties to the address or the state. However if you have strong ties to another address or state, you can email your local election official and make your case and they can decide whether those ties are strong enough for you to use that state as your abroad voting state.
I have followed your column for some time and am now a paid member of your group. Thank you for your clear explanations of all things legal (and illegal). As a Canadian not knowledgable about american law it is very useful.
Posted just the information about this website on a note. Thank you, Joyce. “When we vote, we win!”
I’m registered to vote in my state of NC. Fortunately all Boards of Elections are headed by Democrats because we have a Democratic governor. Working with main registrar on the phone to re-register was a breeze. She was very helpful and using email with an electronic signature accomplished the deed. As soon as voting officially starts, I will receive a ballot via email and then vote Harris/Walz, a no brainer. Thanks Joyce. I’ll pass this on.
NC is very voting friendly for us abroad voters!
Thx for the reminder and push, Joyce. I have been putting off changing from still voting absentee in Seattle to via Dems Abroad for several years. As they both are absentee voting by email it did not seem important. This year it IS! Just did it and sent to others similar.
Vote Forward (https://votefwd.org/) does this too, and I have written letters to people abroad earlier this year with all the information they need. I feel that it is almost too late now, since getting ballots out and back takes time. I hope I'm wrong and it's well worth contacting people you know.
I voted from abroad some years ago while on a circumnavigation, difficult to know where you'll be and when, but I stayed in one place for a while due to hurricane season! I have wondered about the military, and truly hope they are given information as early as possible and getting ballots to service members expedited right away!
It’s definitely not too late; in fact, the timing of Joyce’s article is perfect. But overseas voters do need to get on it within the next 30 days.
Time is fleeting but shouldn't be a problem.
Military has a voting program.
Thank you, Sally. I will pass this along. EVERY VOTE COUNTS!
I wrote letters for Vote Forward this year as well. With our letter, we sent the forms needed to request a ballot. I made it a personal priority to get out as many as I could as I see this group a wealth of votes if we can tap it effectively.
The site is very user friendly - and the single most important message is this:
EVERY U.S. citizen has the right to vote in Federal elections, regardless of how long they have lived outside the United States. Go to the website VoteFromAbroad.org (which is Non-Partisan) and choose the state in which you last voted. The site will walk you through the process.
Here in Mexico south of Guadalajara on Lake Chapala, we have help desks set up every Monday at the Lake Chapala Society to help folks confirm their registrations, assist them in registration as necessary, and complete the necessary form to enable their states to email their ballots. This is true for Federal primaries as well as Presidential/Senatorial/Representative elections.
What if you were born abroad and do not have “a last state voted”?
Sally, I am not the right resource for that question.
If you are a U.S. citizen (have a passport), I would suggest you get in touch with Democrats Abroad in the country in which you live. Regardless of your party affiliation or candidate preference, they will have someone who can help you to determine how to apply and obtain a ballot.
I am too new to the process to know the answer to your specific question.
Here is a state by state run down. Where a citizen parent or legal guardian was last domiciled is the determining factor. If the indicated state is not listed, contact the state election office for instructions. There is a link for that.
https://www.fvap.gov/citizen-voter/reside
I believe in these cases you can use your parent's last place of residence.
My question too.
Please see the info I posted above.
My sons were both born in Germany and vote in Florida, which is where I last lived before moving to Germany.
Sally, it is the state your parent or parents are voting from. After our local paper did an article on Democrats Abroad and we have a monthly dinner, one of the men that came has parents who immigrated to the US and became American, but he has never been to the US. So, he contacted us, he has his US passport, and one of the people in our group found his parent's address, and he is now registered to vote. Another person whose is from Virginia, but votes in Illinois because that is where she last lived, her daughter who was born and raised in Germany will vote in Illinois like her mom. She is 19 like my daughter.
Thank you, Joyce I forwarded this newsletter to my sister-in-law and her new husband. They moved to Portugal from Texas. Thank you for giving us this information. BTW Both are registered Democrats.
Hi Fay! I hope your sister in law and husband request their ballots ASAP! They can send in the form by email, but will have to print out and postal mail their ballot back. Ballots are supposed to go out to all abroad voters around September 21--so they should check their email/spam filter, print those ballots out and get them in the mail ASAP.
Thank you, Laura. I heard back from Denise this morning. They have already sent there voter registrations to Texas, and she hopes they will be honored. I resent the site for Voters Abroad and also reminded her about Democrats abroad. Things are looking more hopeful for Texas.
From my experience working in Austin Texas for their health and human services office, I'm not holding my breath. I was appalled by their State Legislative system where the elected State Legislators only meet every other year for 80 days - that gives their Governor and Executive office near dictatorship.
Thanks for this, Joyce. I’m an expat from NY living in Argentina for the last 12 years. Democrats Abroad has been incredibly helpful in answering my questions and making sure I have everything I need to cast my ballot. Over the years I’ve spoken to too many fellow expats who either didn’t know they could vote, didn’t know how to, or just wasn’t interested. I’m going to contact DA to see how I can volunteer to get the word out.
Just a note for other expats: here in Buenos Aires, all I need to do is drop my ballot off at the US Embassy and they send it for me, free of charge. Check the embassy in your country of residence; it’s much easier and more reliable than some of the postal systems abroad.
I live abroad and unfortunately the diplomatic pouch is one of the slowest ways to return ballots. It can take up to a month and there is no tracking that your ballot was sent. Another (expensive) option is via DHL.
Oh! You’re reminding me that I need to double-check the embassy mailing. During Covid they weren’t accepting the ballots so I had to send it via FedEx (and it was a fortune). I tracked it and it arrived but I had never thought to track when I sent it through the embassy. They gave us a deadline for the drop off so I assumed that the timing was fine. I’ll definitely be diligent about it this time.
Smart! And definitely look up your DA chapter. We had a bad experience with HQ, but locally, it's great to meet like-minded people!
Yes! Where are you living? (If you don’t mind me asking.)
Tel Aviv, Israel
I haven’t been back to Israel in many years; hopefully soon.
I read this after reading your original post...
Thank you Sandi for your offer to help! There are plenty of ideas on the democratsabroad.org website under the Take Action tab. Spread the word among all your citizen friends abroad. Re Embassy ballot return, it can be a great option as long as you are allowing plenty of time--it's important to get your ballot in early because Embassy mail doesn't go out every day, and it's sent to DC where it is put in the regular US mail, which is not so fast these days. If your state allows electronic ballot return options, these are the fastest of all.
Thank you Laura. If my memory is correct, the embassy gave us a cut-off date for drop-off but I’ll certainly check it out. I definitely can’t use the Argentine postal system because it will never get there. But I’ll walk on hot coals to make sure my vote is counted and we defeat Trump!
Thank you, Joyce. Sending info messages to my beloved writing group, three of whom are now living abroad. Gosh, as much as we have kvetched about this election situation online, we have not talked about how they would be able to vote this time while out of the US. Yikes!
I'm sure they have it handled but best to verify.
I vote from Australia easier than many local Americans it seems. My California ballot arrives in the mail. I vote. I send it back! Voila! All voting could be this easy if the post office would cooperate!
California allows abroad voters to get their ballots by email AND return them by FAX! Recommended for people in Australia for sure. https://www.votefromabroad.org/faqs/RT4
Joyce, I am SOOOO glad to see this! This subject is incredibly important. Every vote counts!! My dual nationality sister, and her dual nationality adult sons, live abroad, are registered ( not easy) and ready to vote for Harris. My sister is 100% on to this topic and has many superb ideas/examples about how Americans overseas are “neglected” by the US government. How can I send this post from Substack to her? Thanks a mil….!!! By golly this is a great post but of course I’m not surprised because it’s JOYCE!
I voted from China for 6 years. Fortunately, Kentucky made it easy. The ballot request can be done online. After that is processed, the ballot, inner envelop, outer envelope, and instructions can all be downloaded and printed. Once everything is signed and sealed, it just needs to be sent to the US. In my case, I was always able to give the ballot visiting from one of the companies US offices to take it back to the US. Then it could be dropped in any mailbox and go postage paid to my county clerk’s office. It’s sad that so many states try and make voting harder than it needs to be.