Today's post isn't my habitual Friday Funny in the ha-ha sense, but might seem funny to some Americans who don't know it. Do you know that Americans who live outside of the United States can still vote in its elections? Yep, we sure can. We vote absentee in the last State we resided and voted in before we left the USA. It's a relatively simple process; we just need to make sure our registrations are current, that we receive our ballots, and that we return them on time. For more information on this process read the specifics at Vote From Abroad.org.
What inspired me to write this post was this announcement I saw riding the tram the other day in Geneva. There are quite a few Americans in Geneva and the surrounding area and I think it's great to see this reminder for us to do our patriotic duty, even if we live abroad, even if we are dual citizens. After all, another funny thing – or really NOT funny thing – about Americans abroad is that no matter where we live and earn our livelihoods, we still have to file income tax declarations on that income in the USA, as well as where we live (there are only three countries in the world who base taxation on citizenship instead of residency the USA, the Philippines, and Eritrea). By golly, if we have to file those taxes back in the States, my fellow Americans abroad, we might as dang well vote!!!
VOTE! MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD!
Wow! That's quite interesting about the taxation requirements for Americans living abroad. It certainly does make sense that you can still vote if that's the case.
ReplyDeleteInteresting, thanks for sharing, Shani. I didn't know about the vote or taxation. By golly, if you are going to be taxed, you should have a voice. We need more sane people voting this year...
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