Expat Patriots

[Zorra]

Expat Patriots
By Dara Colwell, AlterNet.
Posted October 13, 2004.

Voter registration has reached a fever pitch overseas, where expatriate Americans are signing up for absentee ballots in record numbers.

"You set up a table, and they come. You set up a web site, and they come. Everyone wants to register this year. They're coming out of the woodwork to find us," says Robert Checkoway.
snip-------
Checkoway, who originally hails from Boston, says that Democrats Abroad, the official Democratic Party organization for six million overseas Americans, has seen unprecedented traffic on its web site. The organization has actively developed new chapters, with committees in 76 countries, and membership in the Dutch chapter has doubled to 700 in recent months.

Much of the overseas registration drive has been aided by the Internet. Outside the Netherlands, a slew of similar websites established to inform absentee voters have also experienced an upswing in interest, including Americans Overseas for Kerry-Edwards, headed by Diana Kerry, sister of Democratic hopeful Sen. John Kerry; OverseasVote.com, a pro-Democrat site based in Hong Kong; AVAWorld.com, run by American Voices Abroad, American Overseas Network, a non-profit non-partisan organization that provides an online political forum, and the self-explanatory ExpatsAgainstBush.org. Most sites either oppose President Bush or remain solidly nonpartisan; only Republicansabroad.org, with 50 overseas chapters, serves Republican interests.

http://www.alternet.org/election04/20153/

Folks, there is just no possible way Bu$h can win this election except through voter fraud.

[Florida_Geek]

1. Touchscreens are the only answer for *

He has pissed off too many groups. He will not be able to expect the same percentage of military votes as he did in 2000.

[Blogd]

2. You Betcha

Dern tootin' we're active. Just because we're expats doesn't mean we're not patriots, though a lot of right-wingers who hit-and-run on my blog entry comments ring up the stale, moronic observation of "ex" and "patriot." Losers.

Democrat Expats are at a fever pitch abroad; Dems Abroad Caucuses drew in record crowds earlier in the year, often as much as four times normal attendance, a few locations even more than that. And my local chapter, Democrats Abroad Japan ( http://www.demsjapan.jp ) has been going full blast all year. Just today I got mailed a provisional ballot, something they've sent to everyone just in case there were problems. This after getting sent registration materials and absentee ballot forms. We even held a special-event press screening of Fahrenheit 9/11 before it opened nationally in Japan, stirring up a lot of press attention.

We also blog. In addition to the blog mentioned in my sig, I co-write The Expat ( http://xpat.org ).

As for Republicans Abroad, they're wimps. They don't even get to elect delegates to their convention. Hardly ever hear about them. Idiots.

[Zorra]

4. Welcome to DU!

:hi:
Another ex-pat here, doing as best as I know how every day to get John Kerry elected.

Not only do most ex-pat Americans detest Bu$h, but the general populations of almost every country in the world apparently do also. I find that (mainly because of Bu$h and his policies) as an American, sometimes I get a bit of a cold shoulder by folks in other countries, until we talk politics. When I tell them my opinions about Bu$h, folks warm right up to me.

Has this been your experience also?

We really are the "51st state" this year, and the "51st state" is overwhelmingly BLUE.
:toast:

[Sideways]

3. I mailed my ballot from NAS Sigonella two weeks ago

I have an Italian friend married to an American stationed there she took me to the base to make sure it had a Sigonella postmark. No puke would fuck with the "military" vote. LOL!!!!

She like most Italians loathes der Chimpehiemer.

[JoFerret]

5. Those living abroad

have the chance to see and hear from a better perspective.

[Tyler Durden]

6. Want to make a buddy while in Canada?

Just piss off on Bush. It's good for a beer on any beach. Even the Conservatives there hate him. The Ex-Canadian Alliance assholes think he's the bee's knees though.