WASHINGTON, DC – CA, a section 501(c)(4) tax-exempt, non-profit, nonpartisan, volunteer organization, has launched its Voice Your Vote write-in campaign. As the premier thought-leader on issues affecting U.S. Citizens living and working abroad, ACA has consistently supported legislation assuring the fundamental rights of overseas American voters. Voting rights along with Citizenship transmission was one of the founding issues of ACA.
Today the organization continues to support those rights by providing overseas Americans with a write-in campaign where voters can ask the Incumbents and Candidates running for office in the 2020 Presidential and Congressional elections their opinions on issues directly affecting the overseas American community.
The write-in campaign is quick and easy to use either on your laptop or portable phone. Voters provide their U.S. voting address – this is the last known address an overseas American resided at prior to leaving the U.S. Incumbents and Candidates running in their district and for President will pre-populate the form so individuals can directly write to those running for office asking where they stand on issues. Many Americans born overseas but never lived in the U.S. may still qualify to vote using their parent’s last known U.S. residential address.
ACA Voting Director, Roland Crim, views the write-in campaign as a natural extension of ACA’s advocacy work: “The campaign complements our voting rights advocacy by giving voters a voice, providing the community with a tool for speaking to candidates directly. Campaigns have traditionally been seen as a one-way flow of information to targeted voters, and this should not be the norm. In a better world, voter sentiment impacts a candidate’s positions throughout the campaign, and the more channels we offer for the expression of popular sentiment, the better.”
“Candidates running for office and those Incumbents running for reelection must remember that their constituency includes Americans living and working overseas. ACA estimates that there are 5 to 6 million Americans living overseas. These voters’ issues and their voice in the voting process should not be overlooked. Far too often the issues of overseas Americans are overshadowed by domestic issues, but this makes them no less important,” added Jonathan Lachowitz, ACA Chairman.
ACA’s research from its work on Residency-based taxation, estimates that 5 to 6 million Americans live and work overseas. With more and more tax legislation directly affecting Americans overseas and with concerns over COVID-19 and the effects of the pandemic, ACA anticipates overseas American voter turnout in the 2020 elections to be high.
The ACA Voice Your Vote campaign builds on ACA’s already existing write-in campaign platform where Americans overseas can also find a write-in campaign to support hearings on the tax issues of Americans living and working overseas – Tax Fairness for Americans Abroad: An Idea Worth Fighting For. ACA anticipates adding more write-in campaign efforts to its platform in the coming months.
