Expats assemble! American voters overseas have long been ignored-but maybe not this time

The United States doesn't show much love to its citizens who live abroad.

- Alexander Hurst

For instance, it was impossible for me, an American living in Paris, to declare my driving licence lost and request a reprint because my home state of Ohio's local government website seems to frequently not work outside the US. No, the infamous citizenship-based taxation and financial reporting regime - meaning Americans worldwide have to report their accounts held in foreign financial institutions to the IRSdoesn't only affect wealthy tax cheats, it makes life difficult for plenty of normal people, too. And if you're fed up enough to want to ditch your US citizenship, well, I hope you've got money to burn, because that will cost you a $2,350 administrative processing fee.

The one thing that's always worked pretty well for me, though, is voting from a distance. In September, a thick envelope landed in my mailbox in Paris, containing the six-page ballot with little blank ovals waiting to be bubbled in with a pen. Not just the presidential race, but also for Senate and the House of Representatives, a host of state offices, a dozen or so races to elect various judges and, finally, state and local ballot initiatives.