Further reading

The following resources provide further information on emigrant/diaspora/overseas voting from a variety of perspectives.

Voting from Abroad: The International IDEA Handbook (2007)
An excellent and thorough overview of external voting. Though it is slightly out of date, it remains an excellent resource. It should be noted that external voting is not exactly the same thing as emigrant voting – external voting refers to the ability to vote while outside the country. There are some nations, such as Greece and Uruguay, that allow expats to return home to vote while having no absentee ballot procedures.

Ace Electoral Project: Voting from Abroad
Extremely thorough collection of documents and case studies.

Map of countries that allow non-resident citizens to vote from outside the country
This is not perfectly congruent with states that allow emigrant voting, as this does not cover nations that allow their emigrants to return home to vote.

Out-of-Country Voting: A Brief Overview (2012)
An excellent practical resource featuring an analysis of the risks and complexities of external voting, an analysis of methodologies, a process for deciding on voting, and additional resources. (We might take issue with a few of the points made in the text, such as the suggestion that allowing emigrants to vote is often a political decision; while this may be true, the same could be said of the decision to not allow emigrants to vote. Additionally, the report asserts that nonresident citizens “do not have to live with the results of the election on a daily basis”, which may underestimate the effects of decisions made regarding policies affecting barriers to return, emigrant support, spousal migration, descendant citizenship, and more. Still, as a short practical guide for considerations around implementing emigrant voting, this is an excellent resource.)

External and Absentee Voting (2007)
This excerpt from the IFES publication “Challenging the Norms and Standards of Election Administration” offers a thorough overview of considerations regarding standards for nonresident citizen voting.(One thing that has changed since the publication of this document is that Germany has removed its 25-year time limit on emigrant voting.)

 

Regional

Europe

Disenfranchisement: Commission acts to protect rights of EU citizens (2014)

A round up of documents related to the 2015 guidance from the EU Justice Commission to nations that disenfranchise citizens who exercise their freedom of movement in the EU. (These nations are Denmark, Ireland, Cyprus, Malta and the United Kingdom)

Democratic participation for migrant Diasporas (2014)

A draft resolution and explanatory memorandum from the Committee on Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons of the Council of Europe, examining existing national policies on diaspora political participation and calling on European governments to engage diaspora in decision-making policies.

Latin America

Explainer: Expatriate Voting Laws in Latin America (2012)
Good overview -it should be noted that the Chilean government has approved emigrant voting since this was written, and El Salvador approved voting in presidential elections.

Africa

The African diaspora and the electoral process: what has changed? (2015)
An overview of issues affecting national decisions regarding diaspora voting.

Related topics

Maintaining national culture abroad : countries of origin, culture and diaspora (2015)

Examines the use of culture in maintaing links between emigrants and their home countries.

Resources compiled by Noreen Bowden.