Israel Matzav

24 US states allow citizens who never lived there to vote

JPost reports that 24 US States, including six of the eight 'swing states,' allow citizens who never lived there to vote in Presidential elections.

Children of immigrants from the US who have American citizenship but have never lived there are eligible to vote in the upcoming elections in 24 states, including six of the eight key battleground states, according to information on a US government website meant to help overseas voters.

Estimates of the number of Americans eligible to vote in the US living, working or studying in Israel vary widely from 100,000 to 250,000.

Jason Seymour, the deputy chief of the American citizens’ services section at the US Embassy in Tel Aviv, said that in the 2008 elections an estimated 30,000 ballots were cast from Israel.

Seymour is in charge of an embassy outreach program aimed at helping American citizens in the country vote in the elections, some 55 days away.

He said the State Department was willing to work with all non-partisan organizations around the world promoting absentee voting, and that the embassy was cooperating with the efforts of the newly formed group iVoteIsrael, which was set up to get out the vote for the US elections in Israel.

The six swing states where children of immigrants can vote if one of their parents is eligible to do so in that state are Colorado, Iowa, Wisconsin, Ohio, Virginia and New Hampshire.

The 2000 presidential race between George W. Bush and Al Gore was decided by 537 absentee ballots cast in Florida.

Florida and Nevada, the other two states widely perceived as toss-ups at this stage in the campaign, do not allow the children of former residents to vote there.

While some immigrants’ children with American citizenship may worry about how voting will impact their US tax-paying responsibilities, according to the website of the Federal Voting Assistance Program, “voting for candidates for federal offices does not affect your federal or state tax liability.”

Read the whole thing.

You can find more information by writing to VoteTelAviv@state.gov.

Labels: Campaign 2012, Israelis voting in US elections

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:26 AM