Voting registration is one of my passions and many overseas organizations have done alot of legwork so that Americans can join the political discussions --- with muscle! -- this year.
Overseas Americans should register to vote in every Federal election cycle, which means every even numbered year. Voters should reregister with any change of name or address, stateside or overseas, however frequently that happens. You vote once, but you can register to vote as often as you need to. No information is shared with the IRS. Even if you think you are registered to vote somewhere, you can reregister without jeopardizing anything.
Because so many of us registered over the last two election cycles, US citizens living overseas now have more standing in Congress than ever, which is good because we are pretty sensible .
DemocratsAbroad developed a voter registration tool which has been in use for the last two elections. It works on any computer, no matter what brand or age. The internet interface doesn't take much bandwidth and it makes sure that only the necessary information is collected so it takes most
www.VoteFromAbroad.org registrants about six minutes to complete the form, print it, sign it. You have to mail it, but the website does the hard work.
If you want to participate in the Democratic primary to choose the Democratic nomineed for President, you can also register on the site also. This is the first primary held outside the U.S.
To quickly register for the PRIMARY, you must register with DemocratsAbroad at
www.DemocratsAbroad.org
The Global Overseas Primary will be held around the world the week of Feb. 5. Here in Rome, we are holding it on Feb. 5.
Neither registering on either the
www.VoteFromAbroad.org site, nor the
www.DemocratsAbroad.org site, nor voting in the Feb. 5 Democratic primary commits you to vote for one party over another in the November election, either for President or for any of your state's other races.
Registration to vote in the (first) global primary goes to DemocratsAbroad only, not to the government. Nominating the Democratic candidate for President is an internal Party election. For the Feb. 5 primary, for example, you will sign your ballot (or "virtually sign" since you can choose to vote by internet) as a voting DemocratsAbroad member.
The 22 elected delegates of DemocratsAbroad will go to Denver in August, and vote (after Delaware) for the candidate they are pledged to, and thus the Party's nominee for president. DemocratsAbroad are considered the 51st State in the Democratic Party's organization.
Republicans Abroad exists but it is not officially part of the Republican party and functions primarily as a fundraising organization. Republicans Abroad does not hold a primary.