US voters living in Panama: get your ballot applications in right away!

Although each US state has its own election laws, and some of them impose state taxes on people who maintain official residence in a state even if they live and make their living abroad, federal law now allows Americans living abroad to vote absentee for president in the state where they last resided without incurring any state or local tax liability. In some states, if you pay state taxes you will be allowed to vote in all federal, state and local races but if you do not pay state taxes you will only be allowed to vote for president.

All indications are that the 2004 US presidential election will be close, maybe even as close as the 2000 statistical tie in which Al Gore carried the popular vote but George W. Bush took the presidency by a one-vote margin in the US Supreme Court. Americans are already polarized into roughly equal-sized camps in what has been an unusually bitter contest that's increasingly boiling down in voters' minds to a decision that will center around issues of war and peace, freedom and its suppression, which candidates' word can or can not be trusted, and some starkly conflicting foreign policy principles.

(The economy? It's not doing so well and the Democrats would like to emphasize that point, but pollsters are finding that neither the bread-and-butter issues of jobs and taxes nor the social "wedge issues" like abortion and gay marriage are at the top of voters' minds this year. Most Americans seem to be more concerned about Iraq, the Patriot Act and Osama bin Laden's next move.)

And thus both the Democrats' and Republicans' international organizations are working hard to get out the vote around the world, including in Panama.

If you are an American citizen living in Panama, who has at least once in your life resided in the United States, and you wish to take advantage of the federal law that gives you the right to vote for president, you need to get your ballot application in the mail by September 15.

• You can pick up a Federal Post Card Application for a absentee ballot from the US Consulate in Building 520 at the former Fort Clayton.

• You can also get an application online through the Federal Voting Assistance Project. Click on http://www.fvap.gov/.

• Republicans Abroad will assist you in your efforts to cast an absentee ballot. Contact their online get out the vote drive by clicking on http://www.republicansabroad.com/states.html.

• Democrats Abroad will assist you in your efforts to cast an absentee ballot. Contact their online get out the vote drive by clicking on http://www.overseasvote2004.com/.

Also in this section:
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US voters in Panama: GET YOUR BALLOT APPLICATION NOW!

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To cast an absentee vote in the US election