Questionable organizations: Vote From Abroad and Center for U.S. Voters Abroad
The organization Nordic Republicans has drawn attention to third party voter engagement and registration organizations heavily targeting US voters living abroad while not directing them to the official federal voter registration service Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP).
The primary third party voter engagement organizations involved are Vote From Abroad and Center for U.S. Voters Abroad.
Vote From Abroad poses as a nonpartisan organization but in small text at the bottom of its website states, “Disclosure: Public service provided by the Democratic Party Committee Abroad (Democratsabroad.org).” It communicates and networks predominantly with Democrats Abroad, a branch of the Democratic party.
The Center for U.S. Voters Abroad (CUVA) is another third party voter engagement site that focuses on American overseas voters. CUVA has invested heavily in advertising primarily through Facebook and Instagram, using celebrities such as Julia Louis-Dreyfus to urge Americans living abroad to visit its website to vote. Additionally CUVA has paid Instagram influencers with large followings to promote their site though the influencers did not state directly that they were paid.
American voters living abroad should know that there is an official federal voter registration service called Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP). This service is not a third party organization and is direct communication with the federal government regarding voter registration.
What is particularly questionable about Vote From Abroad and Center for U.S. Voters Abroad is that they do not forward site visitors to FVAP but rather keep them on their websites to register to vote.
Photo by Edmond Dantès.