By Carola Rico
Atención recently received an invitation from Hope Bradberry, chair of the San Miguel de Allende Chapter of Democrats Abroad, to meet with Candice Kerestan, Democrats Abroad international president, and William Chapman, chair of Democrats Abroad Mexico. Democrats Abroad is a global organization that helps U.S. citizens living anywhere in the world, including Mexico, cast their votes during federal, state, and local elections. Kerestan and Chapman spoke about the importance of exercising this voting right even while living abroad. Approximately 1.5 million U.S. citizens reside in Mexico, and all U.S. citizens in Mexico are eligible to cast an overseas absentee ballot.
The annual general meeting of Democrats Abroad Mexico took place in Guadalajara, Jalisco, on March 11-13.
After attending this meeting, Kerestan and Chapman began a tour of cities in Mexico with a large population of U.S. citizens, including Lake Chapala, Mexico City, and San Miguel. The San Miguel gathering was held March 17 at Geek & Coffee. Their objective in visiting these cities is to foster stronger ties among the organization’s leadership within Mexico, a goal they view as critical to the organization’s preparation for important elections, such as the federal elections that will take place on November 8.
Chapman pointed out that the U.S. community living in San Miguel is participatory, motivated, and generous—men and women who are genuinely interested in both the U.S. and Mexico, which is extremely important to ensure that relations between the two countries remain good. “Our countries have stories together because of their proximity; what happens in Mexico and in the United States impacts both of them because they are connected. This is one of the reasons why the Americans who live here are able to vote for democracy and for the relationship between these neighboring countries to have more value,” said Chapman. It should be noted that the United States is Mexico’s largest trading partner, and Mexico is the United States’ second largest trading partner.
Each U.S. state has its own rules for voting abroad. For example, in the state of Washington you can request and return your ballot by mail, email, or fax. In other states ballots must be signed and returned only by mail. For this reason, some U.S. citizens find voting abroad to be confusing. One of the important roles of Democrats Abroad is to explain the easiest way to vote remotely and to motivate U.S. citizens to do so.
Chapman pointed out that votes from abroad are very important because they can make the difference between victory and defeat. For example, in 2020, in the state of Georgia, President Biden won by only 12,000 votes. Democrats Abroad sent 19,000 of those votes, so the margin of victory was due to the mobilization and organizational work done by Democrats Abroad to make this happen.
Chapman shared with us that he married a Mexican. For him, he not only married a Mexican citizen, but the entire country. Throughout the world there are many multicultural families, in which family members like Chapman automatically become ambassadors of those countries, which he regards as both a privilege and a responsibility.
Who is Candice Kerestan, International President of Democrats Abroad?
This is what Kerestan told us about herself: “My first experiences abroad were through studies I did in Gambia (2011) and then in Germany (2013). This last time, a continuum of living abroad sparked [something] in me, which is why I left my home state of Pennsylvania for Germany in 2014. Before I moved, I earned a BA in politics and in German, gained experience in political consulting of law firms in Harrisburg and Washington, participated in the Center for America’s Ready to Run program for American Women and Politics, and volunteered for the Pennsylvania Democratic Party.
“Once in Germany, I worked at a climate change NGO, where I was responsible for drafting and translating policy documents submitted to the United Nations,” she said. “I also organized and led large exchange programs for MBA students for four years. In parallel, I completed a Master’s program in German in Political Science with high honors. I am now an academic editor and a doctoral candidate in Political Science at the University of Bonn.”
