Watching the latest round of presidential preference primaries has provide further illustration of the need for the estimated 4-10 million Americans abroad to register to vote and to actually vote in federal election primaries. If you haven’t register to vote in the 2008 presidential election yet, you can do so via the easy-to-use, elegant and secure Overseas Vote Foundation voter registration wizard.
Still, voting is just one of many issues before Congress that impacts the daily lives of Americans abroad. If you’d like to get involved in shaping the policies that shape our lives abroad, then support Overseas Americans Week (“OAW”).
OAW is an annual program run by an alliance of non-partisan American overseas organizations, including:
- AARO: Association of Americans Resident Overseas
- ACA: American Citizens Abroad
- FAWCO: Federation of American Women’s Clubs Overseas
The goal of OAW is to maintain an ongoing dialog with Congress and the Executive branch and its principal activity is an annual “door-knocking” campaign in Washington, DC.
In 2007, OAW focused on the following issues:
- Citizenship: Americans should enjoy the same right to transmit U.S. citizenship to children at birth.
- Medicare: Americans eligible for Medicare benefits in the U.S. should be able to receive these or equivalent benefits while abroad.
- Social Security: American who contribute to U.S. Social Security and receive Social Security pension abroad, should not be penalized under “windfall elimination provision” rules because they also receive a foreign pension. Americans overseas should be allowed to contribute to U.S. Social Security as do self-employed persons.
- Taxation: U.S. citizens working overseas are subject to a tax liability in their country of residence and in the U.S., putting American business and citizens overseas at a competitive disadvantage. Congress should eliminate the cap on the foreign-earned income exclusion.
- Voting Procedures: Procedures should be simplified for absentee registration and voting for Americans abroad. Timely ballot delivery and transparent vote counting procedures should be given priority.
- Voting Rights: Sixteen states explicitly allow Americans reared abroad to exercise their constitutional right to vote in federal elections by registering to vote using the legal voting residence of their U.S. citizen parent(s). This right should be granted by all states.
- Americans Abroad Caucus – Created on February 22, 2007 by Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and Congressman Joe Wilson (R-SC) as a bi-partisan forum for discussion of issues affecting overseas Americans.
This year, OAW is the week of April 14, 2008.
