Last updated: October 9, 2022

If you're a U.S. citizen or dual-national abroad, you have the right to vote from abroad in the 2022 midterm elections and every election. If you are or will be 18 on November 8, 2022, you can vote in the upcoming elections.

Wenn Sie US-Bürger/in sind oder die doppelte Staatsbürgerschaft besitzen, haben Sie das Recht, bei den Midterm-Wahlen 2022 und bei jeder anderen Wahl aus dem Ausland zu wählen. Wenn Sie am 8. November 2022 18 Jahre alt sind oder sein werden, können Sie bei den bevorstehenden Wahlen wählen. Wenn Sie Hilfe auf Deutsch benötigen, wenden Sie sich bitte an [email protected].

As a U.S. citizen, you can register to vote from abroad while living, working, or traveling overseas by submitting one form, the Federal Post Card Application (FPCA). It doesn't matter if you were registered to vote before you left the U.S. or how long you have lived outside the U.S. (including if you've never resided there).

Below you'll find an overview of the entire process of voting from abroad, including:

1. how to register to vote and request your ballot
2. how to confirm your request has been accepted
3. how and when should you receive your ballot
4. vote your ballot
5. how to return your ballot
6. confirm your ballot's arrival
7. what to do if you encounter difficulties
8. get your "I Voted from Germany" stickers

Please note that there is NO IN-PERSON VOTING in Germany for the November election!

If you requested an absentee ballot but have not yet received it, please submit a Federal Write-in Absentee Ballot (FWAB), also known as a "backup" or "emergency" ballot.

What is the FWAB, and why should I use it?

The FWAB is a ballot specifically for overseas voters to preserve their vote in uncertain circumstances. Mailing in your FWAB as soon as possible will protect your vote in case mail is curtailed in the coming weeks.

There's no downside to submitting a FWAB. But you should also mail your official ballot as soon as you receive it. (Federal law required all states to send ballots to overseas voters by September 24.) If both the FWAB and your official ballot reach your voting jurisdiction by the deadline, only the official ballot will be counted, and the FWAB will be discarded.

Join our phonebanking team—protect votes from abroad

About Phonebanking with Democrats Abroad

Democrats Abroad uses CallHub, a free-for-you online system that lets you call from a computer or tablet—all you need is internet access and a speaker with a microphone. Log in and you will see a script and the voter information so you know who you're talking to. Simply follow the script and then fill in the survey answers: no other record-keeping needed.

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CURRENT PHONEBANKING CAMPAIGNS:

Please note: we have just updated the script for the NJ campaign to urge members to call their NJ State Senators!

1. New Jersey Legislative Advocacy Campaign:
   
   a. SCRIPT 2: NJ S3761 Senate June 2021
   
   b. CAMPAIGN INSTRUCTIONS: New Jersey Legislative Advocacy- May 2021
   

   c. Tiny Action page for the NJ Legislative Advocacy project: demsabroad.org/NJVote

   d. Detailed information on the history of New Jersey Bill A5306

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Get Started: How to sign up -- See the Training Materials (below) for step-by-step instructions:

1. Join or log in to your DA account (or choose Join/Sign In from the right of the top navigation menu).
   
   
2. Sign up to be a phonebanking volunteer at Phonebank (or select Activate > Phonebank from the top menu).
   
   
3. After you sign up, you will get an email from [email protected] with a link to activate your CallHub account and set a password. You'll also choose 'Web Browser' as your connection preference on this screen. It may take up to 10 minutes to receive the email. You need a CallHub account to work on campaigns, but if you forget your password you will be able to reset it.
   
   
4. Come back to this page to review the Training Materials and the current campaigns (below).

Contact us at [email protected] if you have any problems signing up.
Please do not contact the phonebanking system's website support. They will not be able to sign you up as a DA phonebanking volunteer.

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Training Materials

• Phonebanking Introduction
  
  
  1. PRESENTATION: GOTV Phonebanking Introduction (Updated February 2021; Google Sheets)
     Put in Full Screen Mode for easier viewing!
     
     
  2. VIDEO: GOTV Phonebanking Introduction (Dec 2019) [35 mins]
     Just hit "PLAY" to get the video started.
     Please IGNORE the card saying "There is no content to view at the moment, either because no content is shared, or because an unsupported media object is being shared."
     
     

• Phonebanking Do's and Don'ts (Updated April 2020; Google Docs)
  Short list of "Do's and Don'ts" along with Explanation of Set Call Dispositions and what to do if voter wishes to discuss Democrats Abroad Tax Advocacy work
  
  
• Most Common Callhub Errors (Added July 2020; pdf)

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Returning Phonebankers

• Already have a phonebanking account set up? Start calling voters abroad by logging in to CallHub at https://callhub.io.
  
  
• Can't remember how to get into your phonebanking account? If you've done phonebanking with DA before, but can't access your phonbanking account, send an email to [email protected] to contact the DA help desk.
  
  
• Need a Refresher? Review the Training Materials (above).
  
  

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Question about Phonebanking? Email [email protected]

Questions about Voting? Email [email protected] to contact us on the Voter Help Desk.

Our Press Coordinator Beverly Seebach was interviewed on the “The Americans” podcast.

This week’s episode of “The Americans” takes a closer look at the US presidency from a different perspective: geographically speaking. There are millions of Americans living abroad - who still care about what’s going on back home. With presidential elections coming up a year from now, a handful of the few thousand Democrats living in Germany are volunteering their free time to be an active part of politics in their home country.

Listen to the interview.

Follow us on

Join Democrats Abroad

Mississippi: African American voters sue over election law rooted in the state's racist past

Gideon Cohn-Postar, Northwestern University

A lawsuit over a Mississippi election law, if successful, will change the way that state elects its governor.

Four African Americans filed the federal civil rights lawsuit in May 2019, charging that the way their state elects its statewide officials violates the Voting Rights Act, the 14th Amendment and the principle of “one-person, one-vote.”

To win election, a candidate for governor of Mississippi has to win an outright majority of the popular vote – and win a majority of the state’s 122 House districts.

If no candidate does both, the state House gets to select the next governor, regardless of who got the most votes. No African American has been elected statewide since 1890.

Republican legislators in Mississippi defended the law by arguing that the plaintiffs provide “nothing more than conjecture” that they would be harmed by this election method.

Media coverage of the lawsuit has emphasized that “no Mississippi candidate who won the most votes for a statewide office has been prevented from taking office because of the other requirements.”

As a historian of 19th-century voting rights in the U.S., I believe this analysis ignores the history of anti-democratic gubernatorial election laws.

Today, Mississippi is one of only two states where the winner of the popular vote does not automatically become governor. Vermont is the other. In the 19th century, however, many states had such laws.

The damage that these laws did to democratic legitimacy and political stability in the 1870s, ‘80s and '90s was not conjecture. These laws were intended to entrench the rule of the party in power.

This November, Mississippi is preparing for its first close gubernatorial election since 1999. The election law that is the focus of the lawsuit could decide who wins. Its origins and the track record of similar laws in more competitive states bear investigation.

As activists, we know how crucial the November 6th Mid-term elections are for our futures. Every glance at the news brings new outrage and feelings of despair. We also know that the best way to combat that helpless feeling is to do something to fight back.

But what can we do now? Well, you don’t have to lead the whole parade to be an activist! The most valuable work we can do right now is to reach out to each other! Democrats Abroad is making an extra push to have our members personally call fellow members and remind them to register to vote.

Everyone who signs up to phone bank is automatically entered to win. The top 4 call makers in September will receive a prize. Sign up today, help us win in the midterm election. You will be talking to your fellow Democrats, so most people will be happy to talk you. Phone banking it the most efficient way to get people to request a ballot. It's not cold calls. It's calling like-minded people. Many of them will miss the deadlines because they forget. Calling our members is the best way to ensure they request their ballots and vote.

It is not too late, we still have hundreds of calls to make to reach all DA Germany members! You can choose from the “DA Germany Non-Berlin” or the “DA Germany-Berlin” campaign in the DA CallHub and talk directly to other DA members reminding them, not only to register to vote and request their ballot but to join the local chapter or precinct next meeting and events.

DA uses an online system that lets you make no-cost calls from your computer. There is even an on-screen script for you to use. Please click below for a step-by-step guide on how to get started. Even 5 quick calls from each of us will go a long way in powering the blue wave that will transform Washington in November! Give it a try! Sign up for phone banking.

Note: You will need Google Chrome to use Callhub. Download it here.

If you have any questions please contact the international team at [email protected] or
Beverly at [email protected]  or Katie at [email protected]

Thanks for helping!

Happy New Year! We hope that you had a great start to 2018. Democrats Abroad Germany (DAG) is hitting the ground running as we kick off the new year with our first big Get Out The Vote (GOTV) push. Many sources are predicting a “Blue Wave” in the 2018 midterm elections, but there will be no wave unless you and as many people as possible vote this year. What better way to start the new year than by submitting your request for your absentee ballot for the midterms! All you need to do is to go VoteFromAbroad.org. It just takes a few minutes and then you can already cross something off of your new year’s to-do list! You’ll also save our dedicated phone banking volunteers from making unnecessary calls — so thank you!

Currently the Republicans control our government. The U.S. Senate has 51 Republicans and 49 Democrats (including two Independents that caucus with the Democrats). The 2018 midterm elections are just 10 months away: November 6, 2018. There are 34 seats up for grabs in 2018, of which 26 are held by Democrats. We will need to gain 2 seats to take control.  All 435 seats in the House of Representatives are up for election as are 39 state and territorial governorships. Special Elections show a positive pattern for Dems, regardless of the election. The Democratic voting margin has been 16% higher than the average partisan lean in each seat, and 12% overall in both federal and state legislative special elections. We must keep up the momentum from the 2017 Special Elections into 2018!

Our global campaign to remind people to request your ballot will start this month. It’s not too late to sign up as a phone bank volunteer. Join other members in phone banking today. Stay tuned for more information regarding training sessions and contact DAG’s GOTV coordinator Beverly for training material or should you have any questions about phone banking and volunteering for GOTV efforts.

January Events — Anniversary of the Women’s March, March to the Ballot Box Events

If one of your New Year’s resolutions is to become more politically active, then you’re in luck! The Democrats Abroad Global Women’s Caucus and DA-Germany have organized celebrations and voter registration/membership drives and meetings throughout the month of January and over the anniversary weekend of January 20-21. Join us as we participate in commemorative events around Germany and set the tone for resistance in this all important election year! Please RSVP today for an event near you.

The Democrats Abroad Global Women’s Caucus and DA Germany have organized celebrations and voter registration/membership drives throughout the month of January and over the anniversary weekend of January 20-21. Join us as we participate in commemorative events around Germany and set the tone for resistance in this all important election year! Please RSVP today for an event near you:

Leverkusen - GOTV Planning for 2018 -  January 08, 2018 at 7 pm

Cologne - DA NRW 2018 GOTV Season Kickoff Event - January 09, 2018 at 8 pm

Munich Voter Assistance Training For Vote From Abroad - January 10, 2018 at 7 pm

Heidelberg Chapter Monthly Meeting And 2018 Kick Off - January 12, 2018 at 7 pm

Stuttgart Women's March Pussy Hat and Sign-Making Workshop - January 13, 2018 at 2 pm

Berlin Political Pub Night + Voter Registration! - January 17, 2018 at 7 pm

As Democrats, we believe that voting is a fundamental right in America, and that our democracy is stronger when more people participate in our elections, not fewer.

We also believe that each and every election matters -- perhaps now more than ever -- and that’s why we’re asking for all of you to help.  

This week, help us GOTV (get out the vote) among Virginia and New Jersey voters abroad, as well as those who vote in Utah and Alabama, to ensure we do everything we can to help get out the vote in upcoming November special elections (and December in Alabama).

1. Volunteer to call DA voters in key states. It’s easy, it’s scripted, and it is something you can do from home with a free 10 minutes at any time of day.

All you need is an internet connection and a headset/microphone to get started, and we need all the help we can get -- from both new and old phone bank volunteers. There are thousands of DA members who need to hear from us.

2. If you vote in NJ, VA, AL, or parts of UT -- your action is the most important of all because you have VERY IMPORTANT deadlines coming up VERY SOON! Details here.

Waiting until the last day only risks the chance that something will go wrong, so whether it’s time to request your absentee ballot, send it in, or even register to vote (Alabama voters only), PLEASE get moving this week. And be sure to tell us on social media that you’ve done your civic duty!

3. Vote elsewhere? Stay informed and spread the word.

Tell your friends, remind folks at home, and spread the facts about these critical elections and deadlines. And if you vote in any of these states, be sure to check your email -- you may have received an important recent reminder from us about local November elections. NH, MA, ME, MI, MO, MS, SC, WA, OK

As always, our aim is to turn tiny actions into big results, so we hope we can continue to count on your help! Do you have suggestions for our next tiny action? Email us and let us know.