While most
countries’ qualifications for external voting fit within the broad categories
outlined above, the details usually vary from case to case. Bellow you find
list of some examples of different external voting qualifications. In most
cases, the qualifications listed relate to national elections. Different rules
may apply for provincial and local government elections. The list of examples
is not, of course, complete. Other countries also allow their citizens to vote
while abroad.
Australia: External electors must satisfy the normal requirement for electoral registration in Australia, which means that they must be Australian citizens (or British subjects who were on the electoral register in Australia on 25 January 1984). Registered electors who leave Australia and intend to return within six years can apply to be registered as ‘eligible overseas electors’ and retain the right to remain on the electoral register and vote while overseas; eligible overseas electors who are overseas for longer than six years can apply for 12-month extensions indefinitely. Spouses or children of eligible overseas electors who become entitled to register to vote while overseas by turning 18 or becoming Australian citizens may also apply for registration as eligible overseas electors. Eligible overseas electors can lose their right to be registered and to vote if they do not attempt to vote at a national general election held while they are overseas. Registered electors who go abroad but have an intention to return to live at the same address can remain on the electoral register and entitled to vote without having to register as eligible overseas electors. In this case there is no time limit.
Belarus: Citizens living outside Belarus can participate in elections by applying to specified diplomatic missions.
Bosnia and Herzegovina: Citizens living outside Bosnia and Herzegovina can register to vote.
Canada: Citizens who have lived abroad for less than five consecutive years since their last stay in Canada and who intend to resume their residence in Canada may apply for registration on the register of non-resident Canadians, and thereby become entitled to vote while abroad. Canadian members of the armed forces, public servants or employees of other specified organizations, and their families, are eligible to apply for registration on the register of non-resident Canadians regardless of their length of absence from Canada.
Estonia: Citizens residing temporarily or permanently outside Estonia may apply for registration to vote at their nearest Estonian diplomatic mission.
Germany: Germany has three categories of external electors qualified to apply for entry on the register of electors—German citizens who are civil servants or armed forces personnel and other salaried public employees, and their family members; German citizens resident in another Council of Europe member state, provided that after 23 May 1949 and prior to their departure they were permanently resident in Germany for an uninterrupted period of at least three months; and German citizens resident outside the Council of Europe member countries who were, prior to their departure, permanently resident in Germany for an uninterrupted period of at least three months, and not more than 25 years have elapsed since their departure.
India: Non-resident Indian citizens who are employed by the government of India in a post outside India, including military personnel, are eligible to be registered as electors.
Iraq: For the Iraqi elections of 2005, the Iraq Out-Of-Country Voting Program facilitated polling in 36 cities in 14 countries. Only those Iraqi electors who could attend one of the specified polling places were able to vote outside Iraq.
Ireland: Public officials employed at diplomatic missions and members of the armed forces are the only categories of elector permitted to vote while abroad.
Namibia: Any holders of a valid voter registration card are eligible to vote, including citizens resident abroad.
New Zealand: Citizens overseas are qualified to register and vote if they have been in New Zealand within the past three years; permanent residents are qualified to register and vote if they have been in New Zealand within the past 12 months; New Zealand public servants and defence personnel and their spouses and children over 18 years of age are qualified to register and vote regardless of length of time overseas.
Norway: Norwegian citizens resident abroad retain the right to be registered to vote if at any time previously they have been registered at the population registry as resident in Norway. All Norwegian public servants employed as diplomatic or consular staff and their families are entitled to vote even if they have never been registered in the population register.
Poland: Citizens living abroad and holding a valid Polish passport may apply to be entered on the register of electors.
Sweden: Citizens resident abroad are included on the electoral register and remain entitled to vote if they left Sweden within the previous ten years; after an absence of longer than ten years they must notify the relevant authority if they wish to remain on the electoral register.
United Kingdom: British citizens living abroad are eligible to register and vote as overseas electors if their name was previously on the electoral register for an address in the UK and no more than 15 years have passed between the qualification date of that register and the date on their application to register as an overseas elector; or if they have reached the age of 18 while living abroad and they were too young to be on an electoral register before they left the UK and a parent or guardian was on the electoral register for the address at which they were living on that date.
United States of America: The Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA) guarantees US citizens overseas the right to vote in federal elections in the United States. (Federal elections include primaries, general and special elections for the president, vice-president, senators and representatives to Congress.) The UOCAVA applies only to federal elections. However, many states in the United States have enacted legislation whereby certain categories of citizens residing overseas can vote by absentee ballot for state or local officials. The same procedures for obtaining local election ballots are used for obtaining federal election ballots.
In order to vote in either federal or state elections in the United States, most states require citizens residing abroad to register in the state of their ‘voting residence’. A voting residence is the legal residence or domicile in which the elector could vote if present in that state. Military and Merchant Marine members, and their spouses and dependents, may register to vote in the domicile (state) that the member claims as his or her residence. Civilian US Government employees overseas, their spouses and dependents will generally register in the state they claim as their legal residence. In accordance with the UOCAVA, overseas citizens (not affiliated to the US Government) must vote in their last state of residence immediately prior to departure from the United States. This applies even if many years have elapsed and the person maintains no abode and has no intention of returning to that state.
