AARO - Living Overseas and U.S. Elections

ONE - VOTE

If you are a U.S. citizen living overseas, you CAN and SHOULD vote. It's a little different from voting when you live in the U.S.

• The law allows you to vote in FEDERAL elections. Of course, that includes mid-terms, because all of the House and 1/3 of the Senate seats are up for election.
• You have to send in your ballot request EVERY YEAR. Why? Because, I think, you have to keep your election board apprised of your living abroad every year. And because you never know when there might be a special election because someone resigned or died.
• There are two websites for overseas voters that I recommend:
• Overseasvotefoundation.org is a non-partisan, non-government organization.
• fvap.gov is a non-partisan, government site run by the Department of Defense.

TWO - Find out who your candidates are.

• You need to know what district you're voting address is in: https://www.usvotefoundation.org/vote/CandidateFinder.htm
• Ballotpedia.org is a good source for finding the candidates. 

THREE - Connect to your candidates!

AARO is running a "Connect to your Overseas Constituents" campaign: https://www.aaro.org/election-2018-candidate-statements-for-expat-americans  We are asking three questions pertaining to U.S. citizens living overseas to all the candidates in the general election.

• If you live in one of the states AARO is highlighting, check the responses from your state and then go to: https://www.aaro.org/advocacy/voting/729-help-connecting-to-the-candidates  to see our recommendations for contacting your candidates.
• Even if you do not live in one of these states, you can contact your candidates, just to let them know you exist and what some of your issues are as U.S. citizens in a foreign country.

 For those who are not familiar with my involvement with AARO, I am a former board member and still active volunteer. AARO is the Association of Americans Resident Overseas. www.aaro.org

The Internet is chronophage

In France, the term for time-consuming and time-wasting is "chronophage". Its a good word. I like it. It is useful.
If you start your day looking at what emails came in during the night and trashing most of them and then proceed to Facebook to see what notifications came in, you know what I mean. You look over the notifications -- most of mine, nowadays, are from Girls High classmates, groups of Americans living abroad (generally) and in France, or Paris (specifically), and many machine knitting groups. Then, on to the "home" icon to see what's new. By the time I'm finished, it's time to check the email, again. A whole day can go by like this!
The machine knitting groups are the most chronophage. There are so many of them! There might be a new video showing a technique I'm not familiar with, or something I do know but want to see how this other person does it. There might be a question that I can help with, but I have to read all the replies to see if what I want to say has already been said. (I hate reading a long list of replies that merely repeat what someone else has said without adding any new insight! I do sometimes fall into that trap, though.)
I've dropped a few of the Americans abroad groups. They got too depressing. They also became too virulent, with some participants insulting others for daring to disagree or not taking what they considered appropriate action. I also decided to participate less in the groups I'm still following. It's quite a relief. It doesn't mean I've become disinterested. I've just decided to detach myself from the divisiveness.
My classmates are a different story. I love seeing what they are up to. They have their own passions and I continue to be educated by them.  We have our 50th reunion coming up in October and I've got my plane and hotel reservations, and even a reservation to see a comedy show where one of them is performing. I'm excited.  I'm extending the stay for family visits to Pittsburgh and San Diego.
I'll be returning to the U.S. in December, with my son and his family. A Florida vacation at Christmas, like the days our family would go down to Key West. And that'll be it, for a long while, I think.
Today looks like it's going to be a nice day. I'm finishing up my first task - this post and I'm turning off the computer as soon as I post it. I'm going to go for a walk after lunch and find time to redo that sweater that Au. started.