Was I disenfranchised? Or does it just feel like it?
I take voting very seriously. It’s the sacred right of every citizen living in a democratic society. As an American living abroad, I made sure to request a ballot well in advance of the election and sent it in with plenty of time before the deadline. So imagine my surprise when I found out I could have voted in more races if I had put it off until the last minute. Since moving to Latvia 2.5 years ago I have only been able to vote in federal races — president and U.S. House & Senate. Twelve days ago I got an email from a “@state.gov” email address saying I could use electronic voting to vote a full ballot including federal, state, and local races. This was not an option when I visited http://www.fvap.gov/ weeks before. The last line of the email: “If you have already received, voted, and returned your state ballot, you should not participate in this project.” How is this fair? I was penalized, and you could even say disenfranchised, for getting my ballot in early. I’m not too worried about who becomes the next Soil and Water Supervisor in my county, but there are a number of very close races on the state level and I would have liked very much to vote in them. As it is, I got to vote in one race — for a U.S. House seat. And it wasn’t even close.
