The Vote Abroad

For the first time this November, all Americans in foreign countries will be able, at least in theory, to cast absentee ballots in the presidential election. By abrogating some of the more stringent state residency laws, the Voting Rights Act amendments of 1970 were meant to enfranchise about 750,000 Americans of voting age living abroad--not counting servicemen, who have been voting from overseas for years.

Despite the new law, however, thousands of citizens abroad are going to remain voteless. While 33 states make it relatively easy for such citizens to cast their ballots, many others have made the process discouraging. Among other things, they have announced that voters working in foreign countries could be liable for state income taxes. Now U.S. embassies and consulates abroad are fielding hundreds of bewildered and often bitter inquiries.

One unresolved question with fascinating possibilities is whether American war protesters in countries such as Canada or Sweden should be allowed to vote. Presumably they would cast their ballots for George McGovern, who has promised an eventual amnesty for draft resisters. But since many states refuse the vote to felons, and since a draft evader would face prosecution if he returned to the U.S., is he still entitled to vote?

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