US citizens living abroad could prove the deciding factor in this year’s presidential election.
With fears the race will again come down to a few thousand votes in several states, there’s every reason to think relatively small voting totals in either direction will ultimately tip the balance.
In fact, Americans living overseas were the feather on the scale in 2020 that brought in Georgia and Arizona for the Democrats.
The states’ combined 27 electoral college votes amounted to 10% of Biden’s required 270 to win.
According to the US Election Assistance Commission’s Election Administration and Voting Survey, 890,000 votes were counted from overseas citizens at the 2020 election, from 1.2 million ballots returned.
As such, American voters living oversees worldwide could, with their propensity to vote Democrat, play a decisive role at the margins.
Indeed, this may have influenced former speaker of the house Nancy Pelosi’s late August decision to broadcast a message to these very voters on X, urging them to register as soon as possible.
“American voters abroad were instrumental in winning key races up and down the ballot,” she said posing in front of the San Francisco skyline.
“Democrats Abroad is doing a great job mobilising the overseas vote and helping ensure the Americans living aboard have the tools and information they need to vote.
“This election is too important for anyone to sit on the sidelines.”
Feature image courtesy of Pexels, with thanks
