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Rabat – On November 5, millions of Americans gather at polling stations across the country to vote in the 2024 Presidential Election. I can’t be one of those people voting in person, but there are other ways for me to participate in American democracy.
I’ve been living and studying in Rabat for about three months now, and as such the only option for me to vote is by mail. This is a somewhat more arduous process than voting in person, but there are clear instructions from my home state of Vermont on how to navigate voting from abroad.
Getting started: how to register to vote
The laws and mechanisms of voting vary greatly from state to state, but in all states you need to register to vote. I registered to vote when I got my driver’s license at 18, but there are plenty of other ways. These include registration online, through the mail, and in person.
I talked with another American, Colleen, who is also voting this year from Morocco. “The procedures for registering to vote from abroad are fairly straightforward from a federal level, but once [people] start to encounter the bureaucracy of their individual states, they often find the process confusing and hard to navigate,” she says. It’s pretty simple in Vermont, but people from other states don’t have it quite so easy.
This year the first step for me was requesting my ballot from my town clerk’s office, who handles election administration. I can do this online through this somewhat archaic website, but it works.
All I have to do is submit a form requesting my ballot be mailed overseas and provide my new address. Luckily for me there are laws in place in my state that guarantee access to absentee voting for all Vermont citizens, and even call for ballots to be mailed to everyone’s home so we can choose to vote by mail instead of in person on election day.
Especially since the 2020 election, my state has placed an emphasis on expanding access to voting to people for whom there might be obstacles to voting in person. Such situations include those who work during election hours or have a disability that prevents them from leaving their home.
Receiving my ballot
I requested my ballot months before the election, but overseas ballots were only sent out on September 21st. When my town sent it they evidently decided to save a few dollars and have it sent through the cheapest possible means because I didn’t receive it until October 12th. One of the most stressful elements of voting from abroad is ensuring that your ballot is received by the deadline, which is 7 p.m. on election day.
Knowing time was of the essence, I filled out my ballot on the day I received it. The presidential election gets the most attention, but the general election has candidates running for various offices at state and national levels.
This year the offices I voted for were the president, one of my state senators, my congressional representative, state governor, and several other state level offices.
Additionally, there were two town measures on the ballot, one about creating an oversight board for the town police department and one on the budget of the town electrical department. For the sake of efficiency, all of these elections are put on one ballot which can be filled out and counted quickly.
So, who is on the ballot this election?
In Vermont there are a total of seven presidential candidates on the ballot.
However, the only ones with any shot at winning are the Republican and Democratic nominees: Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. The other candidates are from what we call “third parties,” i.e. parties other than the Democrats and the Republicans. They have little to no chance of winning and will probably only capture a couple percent of the votes, but choose to run anyway to increase their party’s presence in media and popular consciousness.
The next most consequential elections on my ballot are the elections for Vermont’s Senate and House representatives. There are two chambers in the US congress, the Senate and House of Representatives.
Each state has two senators who are elected every six years and a number of House representatives that depends on their population. Every state is divided into congressional districts with approximately 750,000 people and each district elects their own house representative every two years.
Vermont, with only around 630,000 people, has only one House representative for the whole state. Her name is Becca Balint, a Democrat, and she is the heavy favorite to win reelection this year.
As for the Senate, only one of our Vermont senators is up for reelection this year. His name is Bernie Sanders. He’s one of the few members of Congress who doesn’t belong to any political party and he’s also the heavy favorite to win. Our other senator, Peter Welch, will be up for reelection when his term ends in four years.
The last highly consequential election I can vote in this year is the Vermont gubernatorial election. The Republican incumbent Phil Scott is the favorite to win his fifth two-year term as governor as he is one of the most popular governors in the US. His biggest challenger is Esther Charlestin, the Democratic candidate, however she has a pretty big hill to climb in unseating him.
Casting my vote
After I select the candidates I’m voting for, I sign my voter declaration swearing that I am adhering to all election laws and seal the ballot in the return envelope which will be sent along with the ballot.
To cast my ballot I have three options; I can send it through the mail, through a courier service, or bring it to a US consulate who will return it to the US.
Unfortunately for me, the US consulate in Morocco is in Casablanca, not near me in Rabat. This leaves the only practical option; sending my ballot through a courier service that can ensure a timely delivery.
I chose DHL to ensure that it arrives on time, and from this point onward my job is done. It’ll be sent back to my town clerk’s office to be saved until election day and then counted.
What happens next?
In the gubernatorial, Senate, and House elections, votes are counted and a simple majority decides the winner. However the presidential election isn’t quite so straight forward.
You see, the US president isn’t actually elected directly by the American people. They’re elected by the Electoral College, a group of 538 electors from all 50 states and the capital district.
A rundown of the Electoral College
Each state is allowed to send as many electors as it has representatives in Congress, which is their two senators plus however many House representatives their population size determines. In practice these electors virtually always vote for the same candidate as the citizens of their state. If they don’t they are called a “faithless elector,” and although significant, these electors have never actually changed the outcome of a presidential election.
The unique effect of the Electoral College is that if a candidate wins a majority in a state, regardless of the size of that majority, they receive all the electoral votes for that state. Exceptions to this are Maine and Nebraska, which can split their electoral votes between candidates. Over time, certain states have developed a strong Democratic lean, and others Republican.
My home state of Vermont for example is almost certain to give its electoral votes to Kamala Harris, as it has voted for the Democratic candidate in every presidential election since 1992.
Some states, however, could go either way. These are called swing states, which in this election are Michigan, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Arizona, Wisconsin, North Carolina, and Georgia. Neither candidate can win without winning a majority of these states, so ultimately they are the ones that will decide the election.
Worth the effort
There are many extra hurdles to voting abroad; the long waits, the stress, and the shipping costs, among others. However, despite this, many Americans living abroad still choose to vote because in America, we’re taught that our vote is our voice, and it’s our responsibility to use it.
“No matter where I am in the world, my vote counts the same as someone in the states,” says Daniel, another American I talked to who is voting from abroad. “If I were to abstain from voting, I would be doing a disservice to the American people who are counting on my vote.”
