Thanks for the comment, Charles, and thanks again for the great interview.

I have reread this piece a couple of times now and truly enjoyed learning about your and the experiences of the other two voters abroad in your article. Thank you much for swaying from your normal coverage and writing this piece. It has been an amazing 6 weeks since I arrived in Joburg, and being able to go around the city to different events and share information with fellow Americans about votefromabroad.org has been quite fulfilling!

You’re welcome – it was a fun change of pace.

Off topic…I had a bit of a chuckle at your referencing Mbabane as abroad. Factually, you are correct, of course. It’s just that one often thinks of an overseas country when the word “abroad” is mentioned and not our lovely neighbours.

Yes, it’s very annoying that so many states make you mail the ballot back. But just fyi for future reference, you can complete your ballot and then drop it off at the U.S. Consulate to be mailed back. You just have to do that by Sept 30. (I didn’t mention it because I was late publishing this post.)

Americans actually can drop their ballots at the U.S. Consulate to be mailed back to the U.S. in the Diplomatic Pouch. But I was late in publishing this post and didn’t realize you have to drop your balllot by 30 Sept. to ensure it’s delivered on time (which is really dumb). But yes, our system is extremely cumbersome and it all has to do with the fact that every U.S. state has different voting laws. So annoying!

I won’t be voting because of this: “BALLOTS MAY NOT BE RETURNED BY EMAIL. YOU MUST PRINT YOUR BALLOT AND RETURN IT BY MAIL.

Only Military and Overseas voters OUTSIDE of the U.S. may return their ballots by fax (Elections Code 3106 (a)).”

No point in mailing. It either won’t get there in time or never get there. Then again, voting in California isn’t going to make any difference with my choice of Harris/Walz – California is safe for them and the Electoral College system…

Thanks so much, Rhoda!

Thanks Nancy!