Overseas votes could swing US election results in battleground states
5 Min Read
A new battleground in the US election has emerged: US voters living abroad.
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People watch the presidential debate between former US President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris on September 10, 2024. (AP)
A new battleground in the US election has emerged: voters living outside the US, the Financial Times reported.
High-profile Democrats, including former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, former Texas congressman Beto O'Rourke, and former Attorney General Eric Holder, are being deployed to target millions of Americans residing abroad who are considered potential Kamala Harris supporters.
In a social media message, Pelosi said, “This election is too important to sit on the sidelines,” adding that “Americans abroad were instrumental in winning key races in 2016 for [senator] Maggie Hassan in New Hampshire, [governor] Roy Cooper in North Carolina, and in 2020 and 2022 for President [Joe] Biden, Senator [Jon] Ossoff and Senator [Raphael] Warnock."
There are believed to be 9 million Americans residing overseas, as per US State Department estimates. According to the US Election Assistance Commission's report on the 2020 presidential election, almost 1.2 million ballots were distributed to eligible abroad voters, with more than 900,000 returned and counted.
These votes might make the difference in the swing states that will most likely determine the election since Harris and Republican nominee Donald Trump are neck and neck.
Earlier last month, Democrats Abroad, a Democratic Party-affiliated network, hosted an online event to raise $100,000.
Erin Kotecki Vest, head of Democrats Abroad Canada, told the Financial Times that the organization's aim is to have as many Americans vote as soon as possible, citing that "every US election impacts your loved ones, family and friends back home. It will impact the coming years, decades. This will impact you."
According to Kotecki Vest, in the 2020 election, approximately 19,000 Georgians residing abroad voted, and Biden won the state by 11,779 votes. Similarly, in Arizona, 18,453 voters abroad cast ballots, and Biden won the state with 10,457 votes.
"We most certainly are a deciding factor in the election and many don't realize just how crucial," she went on.
Overseas GOP members are not represented by a party-affiliated group, but Anna Kelly, the spokesperson for the Republican National Committee, stated that her organization was "working hand-in-glove with the Trump campaign to reach all eligible voters — including those abroad — to turn out the GOP electorate in an unprecedented and win on November 5."
London-based Greg Swenson, head of Republicans Overseas UK, stated that while the group was not officially affiliated with the party, it was pushing former President Trump's re-election through social media, press engagements, and throwing events for its 1,500 members.
He also mentioned that his group collaborated with Turning Point Action, a conservative grassroots organization located in the United States, and the Trump campaign.
As evidence of the party's increased reliance on the abroad vote, the Democratic Party provided $300,000 to Democrats Abroad this year for the first time to assist it in targeting expatriates from battleground states such as Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
A State Department source stated that voting abroad is "now easier than ever before," with some states enabling electronic voting and foreign Americans allowed to vote at US embassies or consulates.
Trump, Harris may disagree on local issues, but they agree on genocide
Democrat US Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump were seen on the debate stage battling it out to show who has done or could do more for the United States, arguing about abortion rights, immigration, crime, and inflation.
While they seemed to have been on opposite ends of the spectrum concerning said issues, it was made clear that whether the White House is painted Red or Blue, the US stance on the Israeli occupation will remain unwavering.
A report by The Intercept underlined that while bickering about domestic policies, saying they would implement policies opposite of each other on certain issues, both candidates were united in their stance that the Israeli genocide in Gaza and aggressions on Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, and Iran should continue, taking it upon themselves to boast, similarly, about how each would dish out more aid to the Israeli occupation.
Harris dedicated quite a bit of the debate stressing how she was committed to "Israel's" "self-defense". This is not new at all. She has been making it clear since the start of her campaign, and even during her tenure as vice president, that the occupation's security is of paramount importance for the United States.
This is quite disappointing for democratic electors, as many of them advocate for the cessation of hostilities in Gaza and an end to regional Israeli aggression. This means that this demand of theirs will not be met, and while Harris stressed that the war "must end [...] immediately" and stated how "far too many innocent Palestinians have been killed," she did not back down from giving "Israel" the tools it needs to continue its war.
Though she has stressed that she was in support of the Israeli occupation in numerous ways and on numerous occasions, Trump attempted to accuse her of "hat[ing] Israel", adding that "if she's president, I believe that Israel will not exist within two years."
"I will always give Israel the ability to defend itself in particular as it relates to Iran and any threat that Iran and its proxies pose to Israel," she said at a later time.
