With less than a week left until the election of the new US president, a close race is expected.
How close? Americans and dual citizens living in Canada are being monitored to ensure they can register and vote, and organizers from both parties say candidates from both parties will remain without a single vote cast in Tuesday’s election. states that it cannot be done.
Daniel Ableser is a dual citizen and has lived in Canada for nearly 30 years. He is registered to vote in Michigan, a key battleground state won by Republican Donald Trump in 2016 and Democrat Joe Biden in 2020.
“I have the privilege and responsibility to vote in both U.S. and Canadian elections,” Abreza said. “When you live in a democracy, and much of the world is not a democracy, you have a responsibility to speak your mind and use the privilege of voting.”
Abrezer said he typically leans towards the centre-right in Canadian politics, and that his top priorities were voting for Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and her vice-president choice, Tim Walz, which he called “the White House.” He explained that he felt “confusion from the beginning.” In the era of President Trump. Abreza also said he specifically considered the impact both candidates would have on Canada and Windsor, Ont., when voting.
“I think one of the wild cards with President Donald Trump will be trade and a kind of ‘Fortress America’ trade policy,” he said. “In Windsor, we’re a border city. We’re building a $6 billion battery factory. Those batteries are going to go into cars in the United States.”
“I think Canadians would be better off hanging out with the Democrats a little bit more. I think they’d be a little more aware of what they’re going to get than maybe a hard-line trade approach with Donald Trump, which would be more targeted overseas.” They might, but they might build a “Fortress America” wall in America instead of North America. ”
Mr. Abreza is one of more than 600,000 Americans living in Canada eligible to vote in this election.
Michael Breschgold, an American living in Canada, is the chairman of the Windsor Democratic Party Abroad. Like Abrecer, he is also voting in Michigan.
“Michigan State, for example, is going to be a close game,” he said. “We believe that every vote you can submit to vote in the election counts.”
Go door to door looking for Americans
“We actually went door to door looking for Americans in Windsor who didn’t vote or who could register to vote,” he said.
Breschgold estimates that about 10,000 people in Windsor-Essex County will be able to vote in U.S. elections.
Breschgold said that since the coronavirus pandemic has made it easier to vote absentee, more people who want to vote but can’t get to a polling place on election day are more interested in voting absentee. He said that it means that there is.
“It’s very convenient to vote. Just register, mail your ballot, fill it out and return it,” he said. “It can be a little intimidating to go get your ballot, but it’s actually very easy.”
But the Democratic Party is not alone in trying to mobilize voters in Canada. Republicans abroad hope to mobilize conservative voters outside the United States.
Most of the voters haven’t actually changed their minds…I mean, it’s really important to get people who definitely vote Democrat and definitely vote Republican, but don’t necessarily go to the polls every time.– Samuel Routley, Western University Political Science PhD Candidate
George Burke is the director of the organization’s Canadian chapter, based in Ottawa.
“I have to say I’m very happy with what we’re seeing among Republicans,” she said. “There are some Republicans, a very small number who don’t like the candidate. But the fact is, the majority are very happy with him and believe he’s the person they want to vote for. So they’re striving to do that. ”
Burke noted that while Republicans Abroad does not have as strong a presence as it does in Canada, it is currently looking to establish chapters in major cities, with an eye on Windsor, a border city with a large American population. .
He said there are important issues for Americans living abroad that President Trump has announced. That means taxes in both countries and the administrative procedures and headaches associated with filing tax returns and preparing tax documents.
“We’re getting a great response from American expatriates. They’re very happy with this,” she said. “Oddly enough, for those of us who pay attention to everything else going on in the United States, that seems to be the single biggest issue.”
Burke said he is also involved with Canadian Conservatives Abroad, another group that encourages Canadian expats to vote.
“Please make sure our votes are delivered.”
“This year, more than ever before, there’s been a lot of talk about battleground states, and winning this election involves tens of thousands of votes, not millions or hundreds of thousands, and that’s why it’s so important in people’s eyes. “I think it’s clear that voting matters,” she said.
“We know that Michigan voters live in Canada, many of whom live in Windsor. Republicans in particular, from my perspective, they know that Canada is a swing state. I think we understand…that means for us, we need to make sure our vote is counted.”
Polling aggregator 538, which uses analytics to determine overall election leads, estimated Ms. Harris led Mr. Trump in Michigan by 0.7 percentage points (47.9% to Mr. Trump’s 47.2%) on Tuesday.
Samuel Routley is a PhD candidate in political science at Western University in London, Ontario.
He said both candidates are likely to have an impact on Canada regardless of the outcome of the election.
Routley was skeptical overall about how much absentee voting would change the outcome, saying there was no significant change in turnout.
But he said there are several factors driving both parties to try to get voters to the polls.
“Most of the voters haven’t really changed their minds… which means it’s really important to get people who definitely vote Democrat and definitely vote Republican, but don’t necessarily vote every time.” he said. “It doesn’t seem like much has changed, at least to me.
“Americans overseas, especially Americans in Canada, tend to lean toward the Democratic Party, so the Democrats are hoping that they can increase that number a little bit…and the turnout of those groups. This is because it is historically low.
“If they could get maybe a few thousand more dollars, it could really make a big difference.”
