East and West: A “Bali for Obama” T-shirt is printed in both English and Balinese
With an estimated 3 to 6 million US expats dotted around the globe and a knife edge swing between candidates Barack Obama and Mitt Romney in the November US presidential elections, pundits are suggesting the US expat vote could tip the scale in the greatest (political) race on earth.
Some US expats in Bali are taking this possibility seriously and working to ensure every potential absentee vote from both sides of the political divide is registered and counted.
According to an August New York Times report, US expats were once thought to be from the military, business and the lunatic fringe. “The common caricature is that expats tend to be affluent, or military-linked, and thus conservative; or unpatriotic malcontents, and thus left-leaning. The actual picture is more complicated,” writes Brian Knowlton in Evaluating the expat factor.
The group, though dyed-in-the- wool Democrats, are patriots who say they love their home country and are about as far from being “malcontents” as Romney is a pauper. In fact, as patriots, they are calling on US citizens in Indonesia to vote and offering non-partisan voter registration assistance and information to ensure every US citizen here can enjoy their right to vote for the candidate of choice.
But just why would these people bother to vote, given in a good election year just 50 percent of Americans light the fire of democracy and make their way to the ballot box?
Long-time Indonesian US expat and member of the absentee vote support network Americans in Indonesia (AII), Dave Van Rooy, has been voting from Bali since 2002. He says choosing to live in a different country does not diminish his love for his country of birth.
“Most Americans we meet [at AII] still have lots of ties with the States. Stateside there is shock and surprise that we want to vote. Voting affects our self-images — the US love it or hate it, the country still has a huge impact on the world and therefore voting is important. People in the US think we are in paradise sipping martinis and not interested in the US, but that is not the case at all — we are passionate about voting,” says Dave from his home in Ubud.
“There are thought to be approximately six million US expats around the world — possibly 10,000 in Indonesia. The number six million is important as that figure is higher than the population of 34 US states per capita, and US voters here vote in the state they last lived in, so that covers diverse areas of America,” says Dave, who has been absentee voting in his home state of Texas since 2002. Since his first foray into absentee voting, Dave has worked tirelessly to ensure his vote made the count.
He says that a decade ago voting from afar was much more difficult than today.
“In 2002 we had a non-presidential election and I had been registered in Texas, my ballot arrived five days after the election, but I had done some research on how to vote from here and I did manage to get a legitimate vote as an absentee voter,” says Dave whose ballot near miss motivated him to contact other US expats to share information on absentee voting.
With two terms of Bush drawing to a close in 2008, Democrats in Bali say they were more determined than ever to see as many voter registrations as possible to heighten that sense that every vote counted, says Americans in Indonesia member David Mendoza.
“By the end of the second term of George Bush I felt determined there would be a Democrat in the White House — I didn’t think Obama would be the candidate — but just because I was an absentee didn’t mean I couldn’t vote — I have always voted, but with the 2008 election I grew more passionate and started meeting other like-minded people,” says David.
That passion burns again in 2012, says Claudia Auger. “In 2008 people were really passionate and excited — the election brought us together and we started realizing people really wanted to help and they wanted to vote — there was a lot of excitement about Obama and the ideas he was campaigning about,” and while this group admits the success of the Democrats has been less than hoped for, a strengthening of Democrat numbers in the Senate and loosening of the Republican stranglehold of the House, both of which will also be decided by public vote on Nov. 6 along with the presidential vote, could offer a clear road to greater policy implementation by Democrats — or the return of the Romney-led Republican party — and that comes down to the votes.
Making your mark in politics is simple, says Bruce Briscoe, also of Americans in Indonesia. “The key is that it’s easy. In the past people thought it was difficult to vote, but now it’s quite easy — five minutes. This is why we are trying to spread the word to everyone on voting and how easy it is. Our website www.AmericansInIndonesia.org has all the information people need and we are all ready to assist and help in any way,” says Bruce.
The website, www.AmericansInIndonesia.org will “help you register, make sure you get your ballot, and most importantly ensure your vote is counted,” says the organization’s name card.
The non-partisan site also offers information on tax issues and other topics of interest to US expats. However the site’s main function, says Mendoza, is to reach as many Americans in Indonesia as possible.
“We know there must be Americans in Surabaya, Papua, Kalimantan, Sumbawa, everywhere, so we hope to find these people — it’s been difficult finding US citizens outside Bali and Jakarta,” says David of the value of the website in informing people across Indonesia about the ease of absentee voting.
Americans in Indonesia is also calling for volunteers from both sides of the party line to help voter registration events.
“We are actively soliciting American volunteers to help us spread the word, conduct voter registration events, especially outside Bali. Having some local events would greatly help in getting more Americans to vote. We can and will support any local groups in such endeavors,” says Van Rooy via email.
People wishing to assist should visit the www.AmericansInIndonesia.org website.
— Photos By J. B. Djwan
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