By Joseph Plummer
This UUFSMA Sunday Service will focus on the upcoming elections in the United States and the historic choices for the future of American democracy that voters will find on the 2022 ballot. With much at stake, guest speaker Hope Bradberry will speak to the importance of U.S. overseas citizens voting in this midterm election cycle, when too many citizens typically decide to stay home from the polls.
Overseas citizens gained the right to vote in 1975, and legislation passed in 1978 clarified that voting abroad in federal elections would not trigger local or federal tax consequences. In 1986 Democrats Abroad convinced Congress to pass the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA), which vastly expanded access to voting by U.S. citizens overseas. Despite these steps to make voting easier, avoiding the vote is endemic among expatriates. In 2020 the estimated voter participation rate for all overseas citizens was 7.8%.
With the right to vote while overseas firmly established, the challenge today is convincing expatriates to value their votes by casting them in U.S. elections. By increasing their level of participation, overseas voters could make a difference in elections in the U.S.
A lifelong Democrat, Hope Bradberry has been the chair of the San Miguel de Allende chapter of Democrats Abroad since 2019. She is also a Democratic Party Committee Abroad voting representative for Mexico and serves as the vice-president of Global and Regional Affairs for Mexico. Bradberry grew up in Houston, Texas, and lived for 20 years in Fayetteville, Arkansas, where she worked and volunteered in the nonprofit community. Prior to retiring she served as executive director of the Fayetteville Public Library Foundation. She continues to serve as administrator of the Northwest Arkansas chapter of Fundraising Professionals. She and her husband purchased a home in San Miguel in 2012 and became full-time residents here in 2020.
Unitarian Universalism is a liberal faith inviting its community to gather around a set of harmonizing values and principles for living. Our UU Fellowship welcomes people of all ages, races, religions, sexual orientation, and gender identity. Belief in a divinity is not the central issue around which we gather for worship and generous action. Rather, we come together with a belief in community, love, compassion, social justice, and reverence for nature, all within the interconnected web of existence.
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In addition to continuing live Zoom services, UUFSMA has returned to in-person Sunday services. Reservations are no longer necessary.
*Joseph Plummer is the UUFSMA Board Secretary
Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Sunday Service
“Engaging U.S. Citizens to Vote”
Speaker: Hope Bradberry
Sun, Sep 18, 10:30am
Zoom link: https://zoom.us/j/414604040
Password: 294513
