George Gregg is a linguist and registered Republican living in France, who has been desperately trying to make sure his vote gets counted in his home state of Arizona this year. Several million expatriate civilian Americans living abroad have to jump through enormous hoops each election to make sure their vote gets counted, and many of them are buying expensive tickets home just so they can vote this year, according to Reuters. This is a group of people that tends to be uniquely well informed about issues of security and foreign policy, and many of them are abroad in capacities that directly or indirectly serve American interests. They deserve to have their vote counted, like all American citizens in good standing. Gregg sums up his ordeal:
And I think I have the information I need. I'll fill out my ballot in the morning, Rich will come over and witness it, and then I'll take it to the post office in this express envelope I bought today. If I've done this right - and it's only taken me three forms filled out online to request the ballot, four long distance phone calls during which I had to wend my way through a labyrinth of misinformation and ignorance (sorry, but it's true), a phone call to the US Consulate in Marseille, reading quite a bit of guideline documents online and downloading the federal ballot, filling it out and getting it witnessed, two trips to the post office, and a $50 express delivery - if all that works out, I will get to have my vote counted in the Great State of Arizona.
Democracy, as they say, doesn't come cheap. But given the literally hundreds of hours I've invested in researching the issues and the candidates, and the significant impact our President has on our country, I consider it money and time well spent. I'm only concerned that it's going to be this difficult for others out there and that many folks, not willing to wade through this kind of nonsense, will just decide not to vote.
And that just seems very sad, to me.
There are distinct partisan interests in suppressing this voting block (Recent Salon article.). Remember the lengths some of them are willing to go to if you're feeling lazy on Tuesday, and speak up so that we can all be heard.
