Trying hard to vote from abroad

The World

Americans living overseas who want to vote face two hurdles: registration�which is done by state with their own deadlines and rules. For example one American living in Spain is from North Carolina but lived in Maine during the last American presidential election. There are some websites that offer fast track registration. But for most Americans the real problem comes later. These ex-pats who have long been registered in NYC say the real problem is receiving voter ballots and depending on regular mail to get the ballots back to the States. This woman says there’s nothing that tells her if her vote was received or properly counted, and she thinks it’s probably just thrown away. According to one commission, a quarter of Americans living temporarily overseas failed in trying to vote, and most cited problems with receiving ballots in time.

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