By Larry Barber, DA SMA Executive Board Member

We’re Democrats, yes, but in this unprecedented time for our country, we are also, nearly alone, the party of democracy. That’s why it’s important to vote and help other overseas Democrats vote. We’re activists. We’re Democrats Abroad.

Make no mistake: this mid-term is the first of two elections that will determine whether the United States of America is a country in which each citizen gets a vote or a country which has fallen into fascism and minority rule. Those are the stakes this November and in 2024. “A dagger at the throat of democracy,” said President Biden on the anniversary of the January 6 attempted coup. 

Look at facts on the ground. Republicans in the US Senate just voted down the John Lewis Voting Rights bill. According to a Washington Post analysis, the GOP’s national push to enact hundreds of new election restrictions could constrain every available method of voting for tens of millions of Americans. This is potentially the most sweeping contraction of ballot access in the United States since the end of Reconstruction, when Southern states curtailed the voting rights of formerly enslaved Black men. In 43 states across the country, Republican lawmakers have proposed at least 250 laws that would limit mail, early in-person, and Election Day voting. The plan involves stricter ID requirements, limited voting hours, eliminating ballot drop-boxes, closing polling places in Democratic areas, or narrower eligibility to vote absentee. Republican state legislators, echoing Trump’s false claims that the election was stolen from him, are pushing hard to cheat their way to victory. Aside from the “former guy” not admitting his electoral defeat by President Biden, a number of GOP candidates around the country are also refusing to concede defeat in races where a winner has been declared or they’ll clearly lose. Again, as President Biden said on January 6, “You cannot love your country only when you win.”

There is more: Republican limits to early or absentee voting are the most common measures among this year’s batch of proposed restrictions, with such bills on the table in 33 states. Nearly 85 million voters used one of those methods to cast their ballots in those states last year — more than half of all Americans who voted in the Nov. 3 election. 

Hyper-gerrymandered district maps are more distorted in 2022, more disjointed, and more gerrymandered than any since the Voting Rights Act was passed in 1965. Both Florida and Georgia have proposed a special police agency to monitor elections (to protect against non-existent voter fraud). These troops will be used to intimidate and challenge Democratic voters.  

The Republican party—at national, state, and local levels—is refusing to accept the fundamental agreements of representative government. There are fake electors—Republicans—who tried to bluff their way into a victory in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, and Wisconsin. In this crisis for voting rights, Republican-led state legislatures have rewritten their laws since the 2020 election to suppress Democratic votes and hand election counting over to partisan Republicans.

And in a direct threat to Democrats Abroad, states like Texas are flagging mail-in ballots for rejection. Understand this: overseas votes can be the margin of victory in a close election. From 2016 to 2020 there was a 15% increase among all domestic US voters. For US citizens abroad, this increase was 40%. And overseas voters were the margin of victory for Biden in Arizona and Georgia.  

As responsible citizens, we Dems Abroad must vote in every election. Remember that we each have to reregister every year. If you haven’t re-registered yet, do it right away. If you need help registering or voting, email us or stop by our office on the Ancha de San Antonio #10 on Saturdays between 11:00 am & 3:00 pm.  

We are also looking members who want to do Phone Banking. You can help other DAs re-register to receive their ballots and you can help them fill out the ballots when they arrive. You can help them return their ballots so their vote is counted. This year, and in 2024, it is absolutely crucial that each US citizen abroad make their voice heard. Our voices have to be extra loud because the Republican party is trying to smother us, and our democracy with us.

“One of two major political parties in America has said that it is their policy to win elections by keeping American citizens from voting,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren. I say one party is fascist and one party is for representative government. This is the future for the United States unless every Democrat, at home or abroad, votes their conscience, and gets that vote counted.