Voting abroad
By Joyce Tang
Oct. 6, 2004 9:00 p.m.
While studying abroad in Lyon, France last year, Jamie Rooke
tried to vote in the gubernatorial recall election by absentee
ballot, but the ballot never came.
“I requested one while abroad and I never got it. I was
frustrated by that, but it was kind of late for me to do
anything,” said the fourth-year international economics and
French student.
Rooke added that a fellow student, from UC Berkeley, applied for
an absentee ballot but it arrived after the recall election had
passed, Rooke said.
For Americans overseas, voting procedures are often vague, as
voters must register with their home state and deadlines vary with
each state.
As a result, confusion abounds and overseas voter turnout has
been low in past elections.
In the 2000 presidential election, 22 percent of the almost 4
million eligible civilians abroad voted, according to a Pentagon
report obtained by the New York Times this week. In contrast,
in-country voter turnout was about 68 percent in 2000. The same
report showed that 60 percent of the approximate 500,000 military
personnel abroad voted.
The close race this year has both parties scrambling to garner
more votes for their candidates. Because the 2000 election was
decided by a razor-thin margin, both Democratic and Republican
parties are concerned this year about getting those overseas
votes.
Diana Kerry, sister of Democratic presidential candidate Sen.
John Kerry, formed Americans Overseas for Kerry to mobilize
overseas voters. The group has offices in 28 offices worldwide and
is a part of the Democratic grassroots movement to mobilize
voters.
Republicans have taken out pro-Bush advertisements in English in
Israel and some Eastern European countries in hopes of reaching
more voters, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
Branches of Democrats Abroad and Republicans Abroad also assist
their respective campaigns.
Nonpartisan assistance is available to voters abroad through the
Pentagon-managed Federal Voting Assistance Program. FVAP provides
voting information and links to state registration Web sites.
Military personnel overseas are directly assisted by the FVAP to
vote, which provides an “alternate ballot delivery system for
active military” and other Department of Defense
personnel.
Civilians aren’t supported by the FVAP because of
authentication security reasons, according to the Pentagon.
“This is an election that’s galvanizing people in a
way that I haven’t seen since Vietnam. At this level of
intensity, the number of people who are dedicated is very
high,” said Merrill Shanks, a political science professor at
UC Berkeley.
Shanks predicts the mobilization efforts from both sides will
see results.
“Whatever the number of voters this year, it will be
higher ““ there is a tremendous effort,” Shanks
added.
At the UC level, the Education Abroad Program has taken steps to
inform their students about voting.
“We definitely would like all our (eligible) students that
are abroad to vote,” said Gary Rhodes, administrative
director of Education Abroad Program at UCLA.
Rhodes said the EAP office has sent out e-mail reminders to UCLA
students currently abroad, and the EAP Web site also contains
voting information.
But in the past, some students have come back from abroad
reporting missed chances to vote.
Golda Akhgarnia, a fourth-year communication studies student,
spent one semester in Grenada, Spain. She wanted to vote last year,
but didn’t get to because she didn’t make the deadline
for getting an absentee ballot.
She advises students preparing to go abroad to take care of
their absentee ballots before leaving home rather than doing it in
their host country to avoid delays or lost ballots.
This year, though, voting is higher up on the overseas
students’ lists of priorities.
“I think this year is different; I think a lot of people
will make more of an effort, will go through the process of getting
an absentee ballot,” Akhgarnia said.
Bruce Hanna, director of communication and publications at the
EAP university-wide office, said EAP has prepared for the increased
interest.
“We’ve realized that voting would be a particular
interest this year, so there’s a number of ways that
we’ve informed all the EAP staff about how to get specific
instructions to the students,” Hanna said.
Students abroad are putting their intentions to vote in
action.
“Most of the Americans here are voting. I think it’s
especially important today,” said David Keyes, a third-year
Middle Eastern studies student who is currently abroad in
Israel.
But Keyes is still not sure how to vote.
“I’m still in the process of figuring it out,
it’s kind of complex. We have to go to the consulate and
there’s a lot of papers to fill out,” Keyes said.
Getting through to the voters is key; any sort of mobilization
could generate results since there are numbers of votes to be
had.
But votes from overseas could be skewed.
“A lot of overseas voters are in fact registered in
California and New York, so there’s a disproportionate
tendency (to vote Democratic). They’re not from battleground
states,” Shanks said.
Despite the imbalance, the many voters abroad registered in
swing states like Pennsylvania, Ohio and Florida could have an
impact.
If battleground-state margins are increased by just 1 percent,
that percentage could make the difference in the election, Shanks
said.
The mobilization efforts for overseas votes could be effective,
but it’s not the only way to get votes.
Shanks questions whether overseas votes are more important than
pouring more people and funds into battleground states. “The
problem with this is that anything could matter,” Shanks
said.
