Did you know that American citizens who live abroad—whether traveling, working, or studying; whether temporarily or indefinitely living abroad—are eligible to vote as overseas voters? This is true if you are just now turning 18 and living abroad, or if you’ve been living abroad for many years and have never voted before, or if you’ve been exercising this right for many years.
Basically there are three steps involved: 1) registering and requesting a ballot; 2) filling out the ballot form to vote; 3) returning your ballot to the registration office in time for your vote to be counted. Some states require the ballot to be sent by post; others allow for it to be sent by email.
You can obtain more specific information about the process in your state at one of the following websites:
www.overseasvotefoundation.org
is a non-partisan site with a good and easy database for finding and contacting your registration office.
www.votefromabroad.org
is from the Democratic Party. Application for membership is an option, but they provide information to anyone who requests it.
www.fvap.gov
connects you to the U.S. government’s Federal Voting Assistance Program, which provides information, and the official Federal Post Card Application can be downloaded there directly.
For additional help if you need it, Alan Benson, a member of Democrats Abroad as well as American Voices Abroad Berlin, has been kindly providing information and advice to Americans who live abroad and want to vote, as is their right, for many years. You can contact Alan via his website, which includes a Voter Registration page—
http://www.alanbenson.de/events/votereg24/votereg.html
Alan is happy to answer questions about the voting process and what you need to do in order to vote absentee. He will also be assisting people with voter registration at two locations in early September:
— Tuesday, September 4th, 2024 from 19:00 – 20:30 at the John F. Kennedy School in Zehlendorf. This is a community event.
— Wednesday, September 10th, 2024 from 12:30-13:30 at Bard College Berlin in Pankow
