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My vote’s been globalised

The Democrats have gone and done a remarkable thing. They globalised my vote. No, they did not outsource it to Bangalore. Instead, this will be the first primary in which Democrats living abroad will be able to vote online as Democrats who live abroad — with our very own convention delegates (22 to be precise). Basically, for the primary, Democrats abroad have become their own state.

This makes sense practically, as Democrats now have the option of bypassing the hassles of absentee ballots, which have disenfranchised so many voters. Instead, if they register as a Democrat abroad by January 31 (one can do so at https:// www.votefromabroad.org/), they can vote online between February 5 and 12. Alternatively, even if they are not already registered they can go to one of the many polling stations that will be manned by volunteers across the world during that time. Unfortunately, for the general election it will be back to that exasperating (and often fruitless) wait for your absentee ballot to arrive in the mail.

This electoral change is not just about nuts and bolts though. It also signals that (at least some) Americans are rethinking how they understand themselves as voters. If there once were only Democrats from Ohio or Florida, now there are Democrats from the world.

Okay, let’s not get too carried away. This isn’t the globalisation of our electoral system that some have called for — letting others affected by U.S. policy vote in our presidential election (Iraqis for example) or having Americans vote with the rest of the world for U.N. representatives. A more internationalist perspective is creeping into Americans voting behaviour though, and the new Democrats abroad voting block is a potent symbol of it.

When you are an American abroad (there are about 6 million of us) you notice certain issues a bit more sharply — and it is not just that you feel the impact of a weak dollar or a confused tax system all that more acutely. You see first hand the security that comes with guaranteed health care in European countries. You wonder why if they can build high-speed trains all over Japan why America cannot do the same in its urban corridors. One is more likely to compare how the United States functions with other countries and the results often make you wonder what our elected officials are doing.

You also see the impact of American policy abroad up close. You witness how the local health clinic your friend works at in Kenya could not expand because it refused to accept USAID’s restrictions on counselling women about the option of abortion. Down the street from your Cairo home you watch Iraqi refugees cramming into apartments and looking for work. You notice your neighbour’s response to the fact that you are American change from “a great country!” to a more conflicted and considerably less enthusiastic, “I don’t like your government, but Americans are good people.”

One begins to develop a different sense of duty towards the world as well. When I live in New York I am more likely to think about how the federal government can help my fellow New Yorkers when I vote. Not that the government will solve every problem, but is it doing all it can?

The same question arises frequently when you live abroad — what is the U.S. doing to fight poverty or malaria or child labour? And it’s not just “altruistic” issues. Many of our country’s most pressing problems today — climate change, terrorism, volatile markets — are global. Is our government doing its part or just hoping others will figure out the answers and do the heavy lifting?

It is not only Americans who live abroad though who are seeing their vote in a more global light. After all, Americans everywhere now routinely compete internationally, travel more, and we have a world of information just a mouse-click away. We have greater ability to compare our government’s performance with that of others and a clearer understanding of America’s global influence. Even if we do not live in foreign countries, the Chinese, French and Indians have in many ways become our neighbours — to be feared, or befriended, or helped, or learned from, but most of all they are close, much closer than before.

Our information about the world may sometimes be less than perfect, but the appreciation of our vote as something more than simply a national affair is growing. By holding the first “global primary,” the Democrats are highlighting the changes already afoot in the considerations Americans weigh when they vote.

(Democrats Abroad-India will open a walk-in Voting Centre on February 5, 6, 9, and 12 from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Ploof Restaurant, Lodhi Colony, Delhi. Passport or proof of citizenship is required to vote. Nick Robinson is a member of Democrats Abroad India. His views are strictly his own. This work originally appeared in The International Herald Tribune.)

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