Nearly 5 million Americans living abroad are eligible to vote from overseas, representing a small but unique group that could influence the results in key swing states.
While participation among overseas voters is considered low at less than 8 percent, both Vice President Harris and former President Trump have sent out direct appeals to these voters.
“We know there's a lot of enthusiasm,” said Sharon Manitta, global press secretary for Democrats Abroad, an official arm of the Democratic Party for overseas voters.
“The thing is, really, until the election is settled, goodness knows when that will be, we don't really know how that enthusiasm turns into turnout,” said Manitta, who is based in the United Kingdom.
In 2020, more than 27,000 overseas ballot requests were registered in the swing states of Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.
Trump, in an Oct. 12 video, called on Americans living abroad to make sure they are registered to vote. He also promised to end double-taxation — where, generally, Americans pay taxes in the country they live in and the U.S. There are exemptions, and policies can vary from country to country.
“It was an October surprise from our side, from Republicans Overseas,” Solomon Yeu, the chief executive of Republicans Overseas, a political advocacy group that worked with the Trump campaign on the video.
It also represented an about-face for Trump, who had earlier criticized and raised doubt over the legality of Americans voting overseas. Trump attacked the 1986 law that established overseas voting as “a program that emails ballots overseas without any citizenship check or verification of identity, whatsoever,” in a post on Truth Social.
Requirements can vary among states but generally a Social Security number or a valid........