special for overseas US voters

If you have not yet requested an absentee ballot, click on The Democrats Abroad's voter assistance website, at http://www.votefromabroad.org/3, to get started. That website will give you the information you need to vote. You can also find similar services at the Overseas Vote Foundation's website, at http://www.ovf-rava.org/.

There are 50 states, each with its own voter registration and ballot laws, and overlaying these there are certain federal laws:

• Federal law allows US citizens abroad to vote for federal offices only (President and VP; US Senator; US Representative), generally in the state and at the address where they last resided.




• Some states (like Michigan) will allow you to request your ballot by email. A very few states (NOT Michigan) will allow you to send in your ballot by email as well.




• Some states allow voters residing abroad to vote in state and local races as well. (According to federal law voting for federal offices can not be used by a state to declare you a resident for the purposes of state taxation, but some states will hold that if you vote for sheriff or state rep or so on, you are a resident for taxpaying purposes.)




• There is a Federal Write-In Ballot that you can get from the US Embassy starting on October 4. These ballots must be counted in the states where you vote, ONLY IF you have requested your ballot from that state. Given how slow the mail is, if you live in a state where ballots may only be submitted by mailing the paper, you should get your Federal Write-In Ballot if your state ballot does not come by the first week in October.




• In order to be counted, a Federal Write-In Ballot must have an overseas postmark of some sort on the envelope in which it is sent --- otherwise the Democrats and Republicans here would be organizing couriers to collect ballots and fly them to the USA, where they could be forwarded by a much speedier and more reliable postal system.




• You can send in your ballot --- or your request for a ballot --- by a courier service. FedEx has internationally advertised that they will be giving a discount from their usual high prices to deliver US ballots.




• If you are looking for a shipping method that is more reliable than the regular Panamanian postal service yet less expensive than UPS, FedEx or another courier services, please look into using Servicio EMS available through Correo Nacional. Servicio EMS costs $13 for documents and remember that the the envelope with your ballot or ballot request that is received by your local election office in the United States must have a Panamanian postmark on it.

Need anyone remind you of the unusually delicate condition in which the United States finds itself this year?

With a bad economy; wars that are going badly in Iraq and Afghanistan and a military stretching beyond the limits of its human capacities; rival religious sectarian versus ecumenical public interest views on the direction the republic should take on issues ranging from abortion and the teaching of science in public schools to foreign policy matters; conflicting views on the nature or very existence of civil liberties and human rights ranging from privacy through the right to vote all the way to the question of torture --- probably not since the Civil War (when freedom versus slavery rode on the vote results) and the election of 1800 (when Jefferson fought the Federalists over the Alien and Sedition Acts and the nature of fundamental freedoms) have we seen such stark choices facing the American people.

C'mon, Americans --- whether you're a Democrat or Republican, a libertarian or a vegetarian, a green or a red, an anarchist or a monarchist, or even (especially) one of those much sought-after independents --- register and vote!