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[senor boogie woogie]

Hola!

I am an American living in China. I have never voted absentee before and I really do not know the procedure. Surely, I have to go to an American embassy or consulate.

Another question is, what do I put down as my state of residence? The state on my driver's license? I am no longer a resident of any state. I use my parent's address for official documents, but they live in Tennessee, and that state is in my passport.

The reason about the states thing is that Americans do not elect their Presidents directly, it is done through electors elected by the people to vote for the President. I need to be from a state, to vote for state electors.

I'm not travelling 2 hours to Shanghai and go to the American embassy and vote for one of those yo-yos. Of course this makes me too lazy to do what my Chinese friends cannot do. Which is to Vote!

Senor

[Sweetsee]

You can register to vote on-line. They will send you a ballot. They go by the last place of residence or last place you voted. You are running out of time, though. Do it today!

[kev7161]

Actually, I think you ARE out of time. I had to forward some such online document to my friend in the USA so she could "sign" my name on it and send it to the registration place. My aunt called about a week ago and they told her they sent the ballot here about two or three weeks prior. It has yet to arrive. I think if it showed up, oh, TOMORROW, I'd be able to do my voting and get it sent off and all would be well. Otherwise, I'm just praying Bush doesn't slide through again. But, yes, Senor, they would have to send you an absentee ballot from the US and that would take almost two weeks alone just to get here.

[Kurochan]

Yeah, unfortunately, you're too late. It had to be done before the beginning of October. If you HAD registered and applied for an absentee ballot, you'd list the last place in the US where you lived. Then if your ballot didn't come in time, you could download one off the Internet, and depending which state you lived in, you could either fax it, or mail it. You could get a ballot at the embassy too.

[texastmblwd69]

I voted once while living in Japan. Granted, it was 10 years ago. Basically, I called the county courthouse in my hometown in Texas and asked them to mail me an absentee ballot. They did so, I filled it out and mailed it back. Simple as that. Now, before trudging off to the nearest consulate, I recommend calling them first. They may tell you to do exactly what I told you I did (above) or they may have some other procedure. Whatever the case, VOTE as though your life depended on it (because you never know, it just may).

[texastmblwd69]