1

Toronto, Canada.- More than half a million Americans Canada can vote in the US presidential elections And virtual equality between Kamala Harris And Donald Trump In the polls, more than ever, a handful of expatriates can decide who will be the country's next president.

2

Steve Nardi, an American living in Canada, is the international vice president of Democrats Abroad (DA) and one of the volunteers working to make it easier for his compatriots to vote from abroad.

3

“It is estimated that there are between 600,000 and 650,000 potential voters in Canada. There are more voters in Canada than in Minnesota. Every vote is therefore crucial. When Joe Biden won Georgia in 2020, he won by about 11,500 votes. And from abroad, he received (in the state) 18,000 votes,” he explains to EFE.

4

Official data from the Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP), the US federal agency that makes it easier for Americans living abroad to vote in elections, estimates that 2.9 million US voters live outside the country. And in 2020, of this number, some 226,000 expatriates voted.

5

Canada is the country with the most Americans eligible to vote, 516,309, according to its latest figures from the 2020 elections. The United Kingdom is second with 327,245 and Israel is third with 183,499.

6

In 2020, 8% of the half-million Americans in Canada voted in the presidential election. And according to data managed by Democrats Abroad, 95% of those votes were for Joe Biden.

7

A few days before the November 5 elections, DA volunteers are looking for Americans in Canada, even under the rocks. In Toronto, Julie Buchanan has been organizing meetings in cafes for weeks to help those who want to vote and have questions or don't know how to go about it.

8

Other DA volunteers stand on strategic streets of the city, where about 100,000 Americans live, with an American flag, to attract the attention of their compatriots. And in the Canadian city of Windsor, located across from Detroit, for the first time in history, Nardi and a group of volunteers are going door to door to locate Americans and encourage them to vote, no matter who they support, although, of course, the hope is that they will do it for the Democratic candidate and current vice president, Kamala Harris.

9

Kelly Paulette is an American who has lived in Canada for 50 years. Last weekend, he attended one of the meetings Buchanan organized to ensure his ballot reached his home state of Connecticut. “I’m here to help myself,” he explains to EFE.

10

Paulette does not hide who she is going to vote for. “Kamala is a wonderful person. I think people will be much safer with this. And when I say people, I mean everyone, whether they live in the United States or the rest of the world. »

11

In his deep South accent, Buchanan expresses dismay that only a small fraction of his compatriots living abroad will vote on November 5.

12

“I'm a little worried that people aren't taking this seriously enough because we've already had four years of the Trump presidency,” he told EFE. And he adds that living abroad has changed his perspective, which explains why. The majority of votes from abroad go to Democratic candidates.

13

“It has a huge impact on how the world views itself and how the world views America. It changed me a lot. “I'm from Alabama and I don't think I would do all this work for the Democrats if I lived there,” he emphasizes.

14

Alex Maynard, another volunteer who helps people like Paulette vote, agrees with Buchanan that living outside the United States influences political perspective: “From the outside, you see global issues like the climate change or trade relations in a different way”, he. ensures.