How to survive this election from abroad: one expat’s advice
I realized the other day that I’ve had a stomach ache for at least two weeks. I expect this will last until at least January 20, 2025. Or indefinitely.
I blame America.
It’s hard being a politically active American living far away. I mailed my last Vote Forward letters in early October to make sure they reached their destinations. I tracked our ballots all the way from Auckland to Saint Paul, and refreshed the state elections website until I knew they’d been accepted. I checked with friends who don’t always vote to make sure they had a plan for this year. I don’t feel like I’ve left it all on the field like I did when I could knock doors and talk to voters face-to-face, but I’m learning to accept that my activism looks different at a distance.
It’s clichė at this point to say that so much is on the line. Am I going to be watching America’s series finale play out from afar, with friends telling me how lucky I am not to be there? Anybody who knows me knows I would want to be there to help if things go sideways. And I’m not the only one in this situation. I know other Americans living abroad who are thinking about how to cope in the days before and after November 5th.
So I made a list of things I figure people in the same situation as me can do in the days to come.
- Make sure your vote was counted.
If your election office doesn’t send an email to confirm receipt and acceptance of your mail-in vote, email them and ask for that information. The peace of mind that your choices were registered may be small comfort, but it’s not nothing.
2. Check your documentation.
Besides voting, making sure you’ve got your citizenship materials in order is one of the things Americans abroad can do to feel like they’re doing something practical in advance. Check the expiration date on your passport, and file to renew it now if it’s expired or coming up within the next year. Depending on the outcome of the election, the passport office might be flooded with applications, which will delay processing. You don’t want to be locked in bureaucratic limbo that prevents your freedom to travel, even if you’re not planning to go back to the US soon. Make sure your visa in your country of residence is in order and store copies of it digitally and physically. Do the same for your birth certificate and other US documentation.
3. Don’t watch returns compulsively.
We will not know the outcome of the presidential race on Election Day or in the late hours overnight. For voters abroad, we’ll be out of sync with timezones, so following it in breathless anticipation is likely to intrude into our sleep and work days even more. Cable news coverage will be reporting on it like a horse race rather than the marathon it’s going to be, and online spaces will be flooded with misinformation and disinformation (learn to recognise these and know the difference). The lurches and lunges of each return will add to the runaway train feeling of helplessness and emotional fragility we’ll be feeling. Nobody needs this.
4. Be watchful.
This may seem counterintuitive with the previous point, but this goes beyond “the news.” The flow of misinformation (just wrong) and disinformation (intentionally wrong with a purpose) will be unlike anything we’ve ever seen. Naomi Klein’s classic The Shock Doctrine describes how moneyed interests seize moments of disorganization and upheaval to consolidate power and property in ways they can’t when people aren’t as distracted. Once the dust settles, they often get away with it under the whole “possession is 9/10ths of the law” thing. Stay up to date on the latest attempts to hijack messaging through something like the UW’s Center for an Informed Public Substack, which serves as a sort of clearinghouse to sort the signal from the noise. That will give you the confidence to keep your eye on the things you care most about, whether that’s the environment or military actions or police in your community, or your local political races.
5. Resist messages to cut all ties with America.
I get occasional ads on Facebook and Instagram recommending that I give up my American citizenship to be free of tax requirements and other potential financial entanglements. And depending on election outcomes, I suspect the urge will be strong for Americans abroad to divest of that identity as a way of denying association or ownership of the consequences that follow. Don’t do this impulsively or out of fear. To my mind, it’s an effective form of “self-deportation,” as Mitt Romney euphemistically put it in 2012, or weeding out “enemies from within,” as Donald Trump fascistically puts it everyday. And it’s a very effective form of voter suppression as you’d be giving up that right along with your citizenship. If you do decide to sever your citizenship, it can wait a little while until you’re able to fully assess the implications beyond just rejecting what’s happening in the moment.
6. Talk to family and friends about something else.
Those of us who are chronically online often feel like social media is a satisfactory form of connecting with others, and those of us who are politically active often feel like conversations about politics are a satisfactory topic for engaging socially. Neither of these is true. It’s important to have face-to-face interactions with actual humans to stay grounded in the parts of life that aren’t election outcomes. Watch something with your roommates or family and talk about it afterward. FaceTime with your grandparents (or their alarmingly close nostrils, as the case may be). Screenshare a cheesy movie on Zoom with friends back home. Have a little conversation with the person you buy your coffee or bread from. Eat your lunch in the staff break room instead of your desk. Comment to strangers in line about the weather. Ask the librarian for their recommendations. Complement passersby on their fashion sense or cute dog. Even the simplest interaction reaffirms our shared values of community and kindness. Remembering all the parts of our everyday lives that aren’t politics is important, and if/when you start doing politics again, that memory will help you connect more with the voters you interact with.
