7-10 million Americans live abroad

So I just got back to my supporter housing, I have to be back at the office at 5AM, and I have DemsAbroad work to do.

I’ve spent 3 of the past 42 hours sleeping, and I’m not sure it’s worth the trouble of waking up to get another one…

I checked and rechecked walk packets and maps all night, so I’m going to do my doorhanging in…an hour and 10 minutes. Then, starting at 8:30 AM, I’ll be in charge of another staging location for canvassing, like Saturday. I’ll coordinate that until the polls close, but hopefully I’ll have some downtime while the canvassers are out doing the packs to write a real post. Doubtful, though, since each turf is painfully small, and will probably come back super quickly.

We’ll see – you also may hear from me Tuesday night once all the polls (including West Coast) are closed and we’re waiting for results. At some point I will be sleeping for a long, long time, so expect some dead air in the near future.

Now, on to DemsAbroad e-mails that unfortunately won’t send themselves.

Unbelievable.

I think I have time for a quick post now, while I’m at the office. It’s been pretty slow – I’m anxious to get back to VA for the all-night lit drop. Thankfully, I found supporter housing near the the field office, so I can work late without having to worry about missing the last train back to DC.

I am ridiculously tired. It’s not that bad when I’m out and moving around in the field, but the minute I sit down to answer e-mails or do data entry, I’m fighting a losing battle. I’ve been getting a little saucy with some of our ruder members, who e-mail Democrats Abroad to blame us because they missed their state’s registration deadline. Confusion is fine – I understand it’s a complicated process, and I’m more than happy to explain what happened and why, but ultimately it is not our responsibility to make sure you’re able to vote. It’s yours. And using caps to yell at me is completely unnecessary.

Okay, I’m done venting. In other news, we heard from two Massachusetts voters today who got their ballots from UPS this morning. Really useful, considering there’s no way those ballots can get back here in time to meet MA’s Nov. 4th deadline. Oh, did I mention the voters also got bills for $90 each for overnight shipping? Which they didn’t request, of course.

That brings me to an interesting issue. A voter from California e-mailed us about this, too. Does having to pay to mail your ballot back to the States constitute a poll tax? I think it does. For voters in countries with unreliable or slow local mail, the best way for them to get their ballots back is to use FedEx or another commercial courier. FedEx did have a program offering reduced shipping rates for ballots, but in most countries the fee was $23.50, not an insignificant amount of money. Lindsey’s said she’s heard of voters paying upwards of $100 to have their ballots back in the States in time to be counted.

In Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections (1966), the Supreme Court ruled that poll taxes violate the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. Technically it’s not the state charging the voter to vote. But they have to pay all the same. Are there any thoughts from the peanut gallery on this? Psst, that’s you guys.

I wish there was an elections law class I could take at Hunter, that would be amazing. Some of the most important work that goes on here is done by the Election Protection team of lawyers. It also ties in really well with Constitutional law, which I love. Especially the 14th Amendment, it’s my favorite. What, doesn’t everyone have a favorite amendment?

That’s it from me for now – I’m off to VA, will probably be back online around 2 or 3AM. Then at 5 it’s time to head out to drop off more literature reminding people to vote, to hit them as they leave for work. Polls open at 6, will probably be canvassing from 9:30AM until 6:30PM (doing the old “Knock and Drag” – knock on the door and drag the voter to the polls). Polls close at 7, at which point I’ll probably shift over to doing line management, encouraging voters to stay in line, bringing them food, blankets, etc. When the last of them have voted, it’s back to the office to call Democratic voters on the West Coast until the polls close there.

Then….we’ll see.