American ILXers in London, Let's VOTE absentee-style

I'm trying to mail the second one (the actual one with the chads) again today, with big letters of "sender" and "TO:" written on it. Mine apparently doesn't need to be notarized, but I'm available thursday morning if anyone needs my presence.

Hopefully it will actually get there this time.

That ballot has circumnavigated the globe, they fucking better count it.

Incidently, I received this from Democrats Abroad in London last week, if this is useful to anyone:

ABSENTEE BALLOTS: If you registered and have not yet received your
absentee ballot you should request a Federal Write-In Ballot immediately
by emailing us at voting2004@aol.com. Please provide your current
mailing address and the state, county, and town where you last resided in the
US. See note below for eligibility.

LATE BALLOT REQUESTS: If you have not requested an absentee ballot you
may still be able to get one by contacting your local election
officials which you can find from: http://www.vote-smart.org/

FEDERAL WRITE IN BALLOTS: You are eligible to use one if you used the
federal application (which we sent out, or which you would have
downloaded from sites such as fvap.org and overseasvote2004.org) AND if your
request would have been received by October 2.

Note: You should send your write-in ballot in as soon as you can. If
you subsequently receive your official absentee ballot you should also
send that in. The local officials know to only count the write-in if
they do not receive the official ballot.

(Apologies for derailment)

Erm, anyway - yes, all American expats vote. Unless you're planning on voting for Bush.

especially with Michigan being a swing state that wound up going to Gore by the narrowest of margins. I had registered with Dems Abroad in January so that I could vote in the primaries. Then I received from the City Clerk a card exactly 2 days before the election stating I needed to notarise some postcard at the Embassy that I was a US Citizen and then they would sent me my ballot -- I didn't have to do this to vote in the primary, so it struck me as very, very odd, especially as there was no conceivable way I would have been able to get the ballot in time to be counted.

But, I vote in Wayne County (which went Gore by about 90%), so possibly it was merely an honest snafu.

did you tell DA that you were from michigan? we're one of the few states that has to have the application for absentee ballots notarised, and they really know their stuff.

i don't need to have my ballot notarised. (and just got back from holiday, so can't take the day off, sadly)

i haven't gotten it, actually, but will call my township clerk if i don't have it tomorrow. it's cool because it's so small town that i can just call him at home and ask what's up.

if anyone needs the emergency ballots and/or wants to check if their state's ballot needs to be notarised, let me know. i've got a stash of the ballots and the big black book of info from the voting office, so can hopefully help with questions. some states have ballot deadlines in the next week, i'll try to post the email that has all the dates.

i'm writing a letter to the secretary of state once the election is over, politely asking them to lift the notary requirement on on the FPCA, since we're one of the only states that still has to do this. it was frustrating to have to take half a day off work to do this, and would probably put someone that was less determined off voting.

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/10/21/overseas/index.html

i read in the detroit free press that many voters had been misinformed about absentee rules, and had two articles about the fact that voters can request ballots until 1 november.

also, a friend of a friend had a hard time getting her ballot, and had actually given up, until i put her in touch with democrats abroad. it's so frustrating!