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Mary Stewart Burgher Voting From Overseas 29 July 2024
Our Election Day is in September – get ready!
On July 28, many politicians and pundits trumpeted that the US 2024 election “is just 100 days away!” And that was true for domestic voters. For those of us who live overseas, however, Election Week starts on September 21, when the states begin sending out ballots, and “ends” on September 28, by which time FAWCO’s partner the Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP) recommends that we return our completed ballots. While voters can certainly return ballots later than that, every day that passes reduces the chance that your vote will arrive in time to be counted by your local election official.
Take action now to ensure that you – and other overseas Americans you know – will cast valid votes in the most important election of our lifetimes. The stakes – the future of US democracy – have never been higher. Send suggestions and questions to the US Voting Committee at voting@fawco.org.
What you can do
- Register to vote/request a ballot now, if you have not already done so. (FVAP recommends that we register by August 1, for example.) Right away, go to your computer and fill out the form available on two safe, secure and nonpartisan websites – FVAP and the US Vote Foundation. Click here for details and specific advice on registration/ballot requests.
- Once you are registered, make a plan to ensure that you cast a valid vote. This includes knowing how to use a write-in ballot if your regular ballot fails to arrive, or arrive in time. Click here for details and advice.
- Spread the word about the need and methods to vote to other Americans in your community in every way you can, in every group you belong to: your club, your workplace, your house of worship, your sports or other activity groups. Include election info in your email signature, in your social media and on your club website. Please also attend and promote the US Voting Town Hall that FAWCO will hold on Zoom on September 4 at 19:00 CET. Click here for details and here to register in advance.
- Advocate for US democracy. Many Americans, no matter where they live, are worried about the ongoing threats to US democracy, which the US Voting Committee has discussed in every article it has published in the last few years.
As action is the antidote to anxiety, the Committee urges you to take the action that suits you best. This can include supporting pro-democracy candidates for office with your time, money and voice, and raising awareness of the current threats. In a recent article, the Committee Chair discusses ways to talk about the threats to US democracy.
High stakes, and rising
Unfortunately, the stakes keep rising. In addition to the violent rhetoric detailed in recent articles, shots were fired at a candidate for office (which, thankfully, he survived, although a member of the public was killed and two others badly wounded), and more than one office holder and activist have predicted civil bloodshed or war if the election does not yield the results they prefer. Recently, a candidate promised a group of voters that, if they voted for him in 2024, “in four years, you don t have to vote again.” Asked to clarify that remark, he repeated it.
US democracy needs every American to defend it. To quote Heather Cox Richardson,
Every time we expand democracy, it seems we get complacent, thinking it’s a done deal. We forget that democracy is a process and that it’s never finished.
The Good Fight is never finished; be sure you play your part by voting, helping others to vote and supporting US democracy in 2024, and as long as it takes. The outcome is up to “we the people.” But it always has been.
