AMSTERDAM — Once again, the U.S. presidential election on 5 November promises to be a nailbiter. With American elections decided by ever smaller margins, one voting bloc is gaining fresh interest from both candidates: overseas voters.
“All the analysis that we’ve done and seen suggests that 80% of Americans living abroad vote Democrat,” said Tré Shawn Griffin-Noordermeer, chair of Democrats Abroad Netherlands, who lives in Leiden and votes in Ohio, home to Donald Trump’s running mate JD Vance.
For the estimated 50,000 U.S. citizens living in the Netherlands, voting by absentee ballot has never been more critical. In 2020, Joe Biden won seven million more votes nationwide than Donald Trump. However, the anomalies of the U.S. Electoral College mean his victory came down to a few thousand votes in critical battleground states.
American citizens in the Netherlands and around the globe send their votes to the last place they lived, so they vote in every state and every Congressional district. Biden won Georgia’s Electoral College votes by just 11,779 statewide votes, and Arizona’s by 10,457. Each state counted more than 18,000 overseas ballots.
That’s why Democrats Abroad is making every effort to reach out to American voters right across the Netherlands. “About 50% of our members live in the Randstad, so it’s a big focus of our efforts. But we’re hosting events and assisting voters with our website VoteFromAbroad.org everywhere from Groningen to Maastricht,” said Martha McDevitt-Pugh, worldwide chair of Democrats Abroad, a lifelong California voter living in Zaanstad.
This time around, both parties are looking to turn out their overseas voters in record numbers. In August, the Democratic National Committee announced it was allocating $300,000 to the effort. Since then, an online event by Kamala Harris’s campaign raised another $150,000 from Americans abroad. Here in the Netherlands, Democrats Abroad made a splash with a boat in Amsterdam’s Pride Canal Parade celebrating the 55th anniversary of the Stonewall riots, the start of the global LGBTQ+ rights movement.
The Republican Party is also trying to reach voters abroad through their Republicans Overseas website. But, recently, overseas voting became the latest focus of Trump’s baseless election lies. “The Democrats are talking about how they’re working so hard to get millions of votes from Americans living overseas,” he posted on his Truth Social platform. “Actually, they are getting ready to CHEAT!”
The U.S. State Department estimates there are 6.5 million eligible voters living outside the United States. In the end, the outcome of this election could rest on a few votes in a swing state.
“If there’s one thing I’ve learned in Georgia, it’s that every single vote counts,” said Matt Ruppert, a business owner and Harris supporter who hosted a voter registration event at his Amsterdam restaurant, Parakeet.
Democrats Abroad will host an All-night Election Party on 5 November at Boom Chicago, Rozengracht 117, Amsterdam (20:00-05:00). Please make contact for a press pass.