Americans Can Vote From Almost Anywhere

It's not unusual for folks to cast absentee ballots when they're out-of-town on election day -- some do it even if they are out of this world.

Clay Anderson was about 215 miles above the earth when he cast his ballot last year for a series of proposition measures in his home town of League City, Tex. An astronaut and spacewalker, Anderson was on the international space station with a couple of Russian astronauts when he received his ballot via computer uplink. He filled it out and sent it back through cyberspace.

"I'm a member of a small club . . . " he said, referring to those who have voted from space. "The absentee ballots are out of this world."

Even while in space, Anderson kept in touch with events on earth. News programs and newspapers were shipped to him electronically.

"It's no different than anyone on the ground," he said. "It takes the willingness and the effort to stay informed."

Just as Anderson can vote from space, the 4.4 million U.S. citizens living abroad can vote from overseas.

The Defense Department, which estimates there are 580,000 military personnel and their dependents and 100,000 other federal employees overseas, makes it fairly easy for them to register and vote by absentee ballot through its Federal Voting Assistance Program. The program's Web site, http://www.fvap.gov, is user-friendly and filled with practical information that Americans overseas need to register and vote.

The State Department promotes participation in the political process by holding voter registration drives and other events at embassies and consulates. For example, last week more than 800 Americans went to the U.S. embassy in Buenos Aires to mail their ballots. U.S. diplomats in New Delhi estimated that four times as many Americans asked for voting assistance this year as in 2004, which had marked a dramatic increase over 2000. And in Berlin, the embassy hosted a U.S. Citizen Information Fair that attracted 250 people.

"Even living abroad, Americans have the responsibilities and rights of citizens, such as holding U.S. passports and voting in American elections," said Mary Ellen Hickey, State's director for overseas citizen services. "U.S. embassies and consulates help Americans enjoy both of these privileges."

This is absentee voting week, so State Department personnel are encouraging U.S. citizens to send in their ballots by Saturday. They cannot vote at embassies, but embassy officials will assist by sending ballots to local officials at home through a diplomatic pouch.

"It was easy . . . " said Jeffrey Galvan, an assistant information officer at the American embassy in Mexico City. "It was just a matter of going through the FVAP Web site."

Galvan says the embassy has worked hard to encourage Americans in Mexico to register and vote. Among them, he cited an 87-year-old woman voting for the first time since 1952, an 18-year-old rookie voter and a nun who is naturalized U.S. citizen.