Voting Overseas

Prior to moving to Ecuador, I was a social studies teacher in Florida. Specifically, the course I taught was civics. I have always had a special place in my heart for the political process and democracy as a whole. In addition to a personal interest, our time living in Ecuador (also a democracy but a bit...different) I have developed a stronger affinity for a country's governmental system that theoretically allows all citizens to have a voice. While clearly not perfect, I think the fact that the U.S. has a democratic system of government is something that, while I always appreciated, I now appreciate more.

That brings us to this year's...election cycle. We have had an interesting and quite unique experience with this election. We still read the same online articles and keep up with the issues, the opinion pieces, and the general...tomfoolery that this election has brought forth. However we have been spared the undoubtedly vicious and ridiculous commercial cyclone of ineptitude and negativity that usually goes hand in hand with election season. I will say...it's kind of nice. We have been able to focus on the issues while insulating ourselves from a lot of the propaganda and hate spewing.

One thing we were worried about when we moved abroad was whether we'd be able to participate in this election. We knew of absentee voting but didn't know of the regulations. We didn't really have an address and mail isn't a thing that Ecuador does so we didn't know how to go about having our voices heard from afar.

After a bit of research we found out that we were able to participate in the election from Ecuador. After registering as absentee voters in our home of record in Florida, we were sent our ballots online via email. We found out from some other friends that the process for each state is vastly different and quite difficult in some states. (I'm looking at you Minnesota)

We happily filled out our ballots and tried to fax them in as per the Florida Voter Registration instructions. That didn't work; mostly because it is 2016 and no one uses a fax anymore. I was quite frankly surprised they didn't let us vote via carrier pigeon but that's neither here nor there. We printed out our security envelopes and got our ballots to the embassy via our school courier. It was nice to see that voter participation at our school is close to 90% even though we live far away. It was refreshing to see that these issues and the future of OUR country matters to our friends and colleagues even if it isn't the country we are all living in.

So, there you have it. We voted. From another continent. Without hassle. While I have no certainty that our vote made it there successfully and will be counted, I do have faith. I have faith and appreciation in our electoral process. I have tremendous kudos to bestow upon the Overseas Voter Registration. We've officially and successfully navigated yet another step in the sometimes difficult process of living overseas.