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US primaries: how to vote as an American expat in Italy

As a week of the "Global Primaries" for expat Americans around the world kicks off, we look at how you can cast your ballot from Italy.

Published: 1 March 2016 11:18 CET
US primaries: how to vote as an American expat in Italy
Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images North America/AFP

Even if you’re living thousands of miles away from the US of A, don’t fret – you can still have your voice heard from abroad.

The Local looks at the fairly simple steps involved in getting you to the presidential vote.

Voting absentee with your state

To vote in your state’s primary, presidential and any other election, you first have to register online with the Federal Voting Assistance Program, or VoteFromAbroad.org. The US State Department recommends doing this for those living abroad at the start of each year so you can keep getting ballots sent to you.

Then print, sign and send the resulting form to your state election office. You should get your ballot by mail or electronically (depending on the state) 45 to 30 days before the vote.

What if you don’t have a US address?

Don’t worry! Just register with the last state where you lived most recently before leaving the US.

Plus, 24 states and Washington DC allow American citizens who have never lived in the US to register where a parent is eligible to vote. Find a list of these states here.

Vote in-person at the Global Primary (if you’re a Democrat)

Unlike Republicans, Democrats who live abroad get their own primary to vote until March 8th with the group Democrats Abroad, which is given state-level recognition in the Democratic National Committee.

There are two ways you can do this. First, you can vote from now by postal ballot, email or fax. Download your ballot here:

Second, you can vote in-person at a Democrats Abroad voting centre in either Rome, Florence, Milan or Naples between March 4th and March 7th (details below and here). You must register as a member to vote and can do that online beforehand, or at the centre. Just bring your US passport or driver’s licence along, or an Italian ID.

Voting Centers 2016 Global Primary:

Rome: Friday, March 4th, from 2:30 to 8:00pm

St. Stephen's School, Via Aventina 3,00153 RomeFlorence: Saturday, March 5th, from 3:00 pm to 5:00pm

Florence: Saturday, March 5, from 3:00 pm to 5:00pm

California State University, Via Giacomo Leopardi,50121, Florence

Naples: Saturday, March 5, from 10:00am to 2:00pm

The International School of Naples, Viale della Liberazione 1, 80125 Naples

Milan: Monday, March 7th, from 7:00 pm to 9:00pm

Kaprikorn, Via Ravizza, 6 20149 Milan

For more information, contact Tony Quattrone and Gail Fagen: [email protected]

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EUROPEAN UNION

Norway flirts with the idea of a ‘mini Brexit’ in election campaign

On paper, Norway's election on Monday looks like it could cool Oslo's relationship with the European Union but analysts say that appearances may be deceiving.

Published: 11 September 2021 14:08 CEST
Norway flirts with the idea of a 'mini Brexit' in election campaign
The Centre Party's leader Slagsvold Vedum has called for Norway's relationship with the European Union to be renegotiated. Photo: Gorm Kallestad / NTB / AFP

After eight years of a pro-European centre-right government, polls suggest the Scandinavian country is headed for a change of administration.

A left-green coalition in some shape or form is expected to emerge victorious, with the main opposition Labour Party relying on the backing of several eurosceptic parties to obtain a majority in parliament.

In its remote corner of Europe, Norway is not a member of the EU but it is closely linked to the bloc through the European Economic Area (EEA) agreement.

The deal gives Norway access to the common market in exchange for the adoption of most European directives.

Both the Centre Party and the Socialist Left — the Labour Party’s closest allies, which together have around 20 percent of voter support — have called for the marriage of convenience to be dissolved.

“The problem with the agreement we have today is that we gradually transfer more and more power from the Storting (Norway’s parliament), from Norwegian lawmakers to the bureaucrats in Brussels who are not accountable,” Centre Party leader Trygve Slagsvold Vedum said in a recent televised debate.

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Defending the interests of its rural base, the Centre Party wants to replace the EEA with trade and cooperation agreements.

However, Labour leader Jonas Gahr Store, who is expected to become the next prime minister, does not want to jeopardise the country’s ties to the EU, by far Norway’s biggest trading partner.

“If I go to my wife and say ‘Look, we’ve been married for years and things are pretty good, but now I want to look around to see if there are any other options out there’… Nobody (in Brussels) is going to pick up the phone” and be willing to renegotiate the terms, Gahr Store said in the same debate.

Running with the same metaphor, Slagsvold Vedum snapped back: “If your wife were riding roughshod over you every day, maybe you would react.”

EU a ‘tough negotiating partner’

Initially, Brexit gave Norwegian eurosceptics a whiff of hope. But the difficulties in untangling British-EU ties put a damper on things.

“In Norway, we saw that the EU is a very tough negotiating partner and even a big country like Britain did not manage to win very much in its negotiations,” said Ulf Sverdrup, director of the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs.

While Norwegians have rejected EU membership twice, in referendums in 1972 and 1994, a majority are in favour of the current EEA agreement.

During the election campaign, the EU issue has gradually been pushed to the back burner as the Centre Party — which briefly led in the polls — has seen its support deflate.

The nature of Norway’s relationship to the bloc will depend on the distribution of seats in parliament, but experts generally agree that little is likely to change.

“The Labour Party will surely be firm about the need to maintain the EEA agreement,” said Johannes Bergh, political scientist at the Institute for Social Research, “even if that means making concessions to the other parties in other areas”.

Closer cooperation over climate?

It’s possible that common issues, like the fight against climate change, could in fact bring Norway and the EU even closer.

“Cooperation with the EU will very likely become stronger because of the climate issue” which “could become a source of friction” within the next coalition, Sverdrup suggested.

“Even though the past 25 years have been a period of increasingly close cooperation, and though we can therefore expect that it will probably continue, there are still question marks” surrounding Norway’s future ties to the EU, he said.

These likely include the inclusion and strength of eurosceptics within the future government as well as the ability of coalition partners to agree on all EU-related issues.

Meanwhile, Brussels is looking on cautiously. The EEA agreement is “fundamental” for relations between the EU and its
partners Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, according to EU spokesman Peter Stano.

But when it comes to the rest, “we do not speculate on possible election outcomes nor do we comment on different party positions.”

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