To Be a Better Citizen, Leave the Country?
Jim Wittevrongel received his "early voting" ballot for Tuesday’s presidential primary at 7 p.m. Monday, giving him roughly 31 hours to return his vote to the Maricopa County Recorder’s office. The problem, as Wittevrongel explained in an e-mail, is that he makes his home in Munich, Germany.
"I’ve lived in Munich since the summer of 2001," he wrote. "I retired from Madison School District after 28 years that June and started teaching at Munich International School in August."
Living in Europe has not lessened Wittevrongel’s sense of obligation as a citizen, however. In fact, he called the current presidential race "the most important election of the past 75 years. … "I had started my career as a Peace Corps volunteer and really wanted to live and work overseas again," he wrote. "In the early ’70s in the Philippines, my only information source was my weekly Time magazine. How times have changed. I check MSNBC, CNN and the New York Times virtually every morning online and The Arizona Republic on my lunch break (we’re 8 hours ahead in the winter). CNN Europe on cable and the German TV news programs carry a lot about our elections." Full Arizona Republic article on overseas living here:
This article was pretty interesting to me, even though I haven’t lived in Germany for many years now. Living here in the Philippines has a lot of similarities, though.
My dual-citizen (Philippine/USA) wife is really interested in politics, in both countries. Myself? well I really have to own up to a pretty strong lack of interest for years now.
I do vote in most elections but most often I wind up voting against someone whom I feel is doing a poor job rather than for someone I have confidence will do better. My wife follows events daily though and educates me a lot … staying interested ha smade me a lot more aware of what’s going on this year than in any other presidential election year I can remember.
But if you live outside the country, don’t you give up voting? The answer to that is a resounding no. Every US citizen has the right to vote no matter where they chose to live and there are several organization who can help you with your privilege and duty to vote.
- US Embassy, Manila: Voting Assistance
- Federal Voting Assistance Program Read this site carefully. It looks at first as if it is only of concern to uniformed service members and employees of government agencies, but it includes information for all US citizens living abroad, including those who have never been to the US. Interesting excerpt of the law here defining what an ..(5) "overseas voter" means —
- American Citizens Abroad The voice of Americans overseas. If you can’t find what you are looking for or don’t get the answers you need from government sites, you may be interested in this private organization dedicated to overseas citizens and the preservation of their rights.
Generally, all U.S. citizens 18 years or older who are residing outside of the United States during an election period are eligible to vote by absentee ballot in any election for federal office.
You can vote by absentee ballot in federal elections held in the state in which you are registered or in which you were last registered to vote. If you were never registered, you can register and vote in the last state in which you resided. If you never resided in the United States, you can register and vote in the last state your parents resided in before your birth.
(A) an absent uniformed services voter who, by reason of active duty or service is absent from the United States on the date of the election involved;
(B) a person who resides outside the United States and is qualified to vote in the last place in which the person was domiciled before leaving the United States; or
(C) a person who resides outside the United States and (but for such residence) would be qualified to vote in the last place in which the person was domiciled before leaving the United States …
One of the issues you will have to deal with when you chose to live outside the US is the ignorant mind set of many ’stay at home’ Americans who profess to support freedom but then neglect to consider that true freedom includes the right to live where you chose to. Don’t let this insular, short-sighted people throw you … you can live where you wish for any reason you choose to,
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