Special Arrangements for Nonresident Voters
Because voting almost always has citizenship and residency requirements, the vast majority of
voters will be resident in the country and in the electoral district in which they are eligible to
vote.
However, there are citizens who may temporarily be living abroad but who retain the right to
vote,
and thus to be registered. In addition, there are those who will be in the country, but absent from
their electoral district at the time of the election at a mining or logging camp, attending a training
seminar, etc.
Until recently, the most common such voters were members of the armed forces stationed
abroad.
But because these voters normally continue to maintain a residence in their home country, it is
usually possible to assign them to a voting station. An increasingly important class of
nonresident
voters has emerged in response to the considerable increase in mobility for workers in search of
employment in certain trades. The most notable example has been among the member countries
of the European Union. Increased international mobility among a country's citizens places
particular burdens on the state in providing for registration and for voting.
Short-term Versus Long-term Absence
The other distinction to make on the basis of residency is whether voters who are currently
absent
are away for short or long periods of time. For short-term absences, registration can be achieved
by special provisions to update the register, and voting can take place at early voting. For voters
absent for long periods of time, but who intend to return in the future, provisions can be made to
register by postal registration or at the embassies in the country in which the voter is resident.
Extension of Voting Rights to Citizens Living Abroad
There has been a considerable broadening of the extension of voting rights to citizens resident
abroad. Elections in the 1990s in South Africa and in Bosnia-Herzegovina included large
numbers
of voters participating in the election while resident abroad. In addition, a number of countries of
the European Union allow foreign citizens to participate in local elections.
