Flashback 2008: Absentee Ballots Turn Alaska Senate Seat Blue

Democrats Abroad Win Elections

Our Votes Can Make the Difference

A 2012 Time Magazine discussed the significance that non-resident U.S. citizens play in elections.

Overseas voters certainly proved decisive in 2000, with Florida’s certified election results showing that Al Gore would have won the state — and thus the presidency — by 202 votes but for 2,490 overseas ballots counted after Election Day. Since 2006, overseas voters have tipped three close Senate elections, in Alaska, Virginia and Minnesota, to Democratic candidates, securing the party’s 51-member majority in the U.S. Senate. ¹

¹ van Gilder Cooke, Sonia. "Overseas Voters: A Virtual Swing State That Could Decide the Victor." Time. November 5, 2012.