US Voters in Germany Get Rallying Call

Experts maintain that the 2004 presidential election in the United States will be a close race. Many believe that the votes of US citizens living abroad may be critical to the outcome. However, in the past only a small proportion of Americans living abroad have taken the trouble to vote in elections. That needs to change this year, say US activists from various organizations in Berlin who are campaigning against voter apathy.

Many US citizens do not exercise their right to vote, especially those who live abroad. Many people, says William Downey from “Democrats Abroad Berlin”, have not voted in 30 years. There are up to 20,000 Americans living in the German capital alone. Downey and his group are in the process of finding them and mobilizing them for the November vote. He is convinced that absentee ballots from US citizens living abroad will make a difference.

"Obviously, we know what happened four years ago in Florida where the overseas votes were very important," Downey said in an interview with DW-RADIO. "I think it's always when there is a very close race when the overseas votes can make a difference."

Complex voting registration

Juan Diaz, regional director of “Americans Overseas for Kerry” in Berlin says he sees a great need for coordinating the various groups’ activities to mobilize potential US voters here. He knows that many Americans living abroad have not taken parts in ballots because of the complexities of voter registration.

His organization and many others are now offering help to expatriate voters in filling in absentee ballot applications and sending them to the right address in the US. This is not as easy as it sounds because as yet there is no single central office for their applications.

"In my group there are democrats, there are independents, there are young people who have never voted and have registered for the first time," said Diaz. "We want to reach as many people as possible and just give them the chance to vote."

Unprecedented Presidential Election

Elsa Rassbach of “American Voices Abroad Get Out and Vote Action” argues that the 2004 presidential election is unlike any other. She maintains that the time’s ripe for a new president.

"We are against the policy of preventive or pre-emptive war which Bush introduced, in our opinion. We are against the Patriot Act which cuts into our traditional civil rights so we are against Bush on principle," Rassbach explained. "If it turns out that Kerry carries on with these policies then we might be, at some point, against him."

The different action groups representing Americans living in Berlin are hoping that many US citizens living here will show up at cinemas on Thursday when Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11 premieres in Germany. They see this as a good opportunity to get in touch with absent voters and ask them to make use of their right to vote this time around.