American citizens living in Canada will be able to use the Internet to vote in the U.S. presidential primaries for the first time in 2008, but only if they're Democrats.
Democrats Abroad, an organization representing more than seven million Americans living outside the U.S., is holding its first "global primary," allowing American ex-pats in Canada and around the world to vote online as part of a virtual 51st state.
Unlike Republicans Abroad, whose members must still vote by absentee ballot in their home states, Democrats Abroad is recognized as an official branch of the Democratic National Committee, and will send 22 delegates to the party's convention in August, putting its influence on par with states like Idaho (23) and North Dakota (21).
In previous elections, these delegates were selected in caucuses held around the globe, requiring American citizens to actually show up at polling centres. In 2004, a group of just 80 Americans gathered in Toronto's Metro Hall to showcase their support for John Kerry or Howard Dean.
But in next year's primary, Democrats across Canada can vote through the mail or on the Internet, and organizers hope to dramatically increase voter involvement.
"We hope in Canada to see a lot more than 80 people participating," said Toronto's Toby Condliffe, international vice-chair of Democrats Abroad. "There are hundreds of thousands of Americans here, so you might say that anything would be an up-tick."
Democrats living in Canada can sign up at http://www.VoteFromAbroad.org throughout the month of January, and vote from Feb. 5 through 12. The results will be announced on Feb. 22, and Democrats Abroad from around the globe will gather at a caucus in Vancouver next April to select their delegates.
And for the first time, the party's presidential candidates seem to be campaigning outside U.S. borders.
John Edwards has answered a long list of questions on the Democrats Abroad website, addressing why he can best represent ex-pat interests.
Barack Obama's wife, Michelle, attended Democrats Abroad meetings in China and London, where Hillary Clinton also held a Democrats Abroad fundraiser.
On Dec. 20, a group of Mr. Obama's supporters will gather at a Toronto pub to meet with Toronto-born David Crouch, one of the senator's campaign fundraisers in Florida.
Ken Sherman, an American ex-pat living in Hamilton, Ont., who is helping to organize the Obama event, believes Democratic candidates now see overseas voters as a valuable source of delegate votes and campaign dollars.
"We may have more votes in Democrats Abroad than in the state of Wyoming," Mr. Sherman said of Americans living in Canada. "So to make our vote a battlefront is probably a very wise choice."
Mark Feigenbaum, chair of the Canadian wing of Republicans Abroad, said his members would benefit from similar influence within their party.
Every four years, he fields hundreds of phone calls from Americans living in Canada who do not know how to vote in their home states.
"A lot of people don't even know that they can vote," he said. "If there was a more standardized process it would be a lot easier."
Bernadette Masterson, a Florida-born Democrat who has lived in Toronto for 25 years, says voting on the Internet will make the primaries relatively hassle-free this year.
"I think the new process is better," she said. "Usually I have to vote in South Carolina, because that was the last place I lived - in 1981."
But not every Democrat living in Canada is embracing the global primary system.
Mike Tipping, a 23-year-old Obama supporter living in Halifax, plans to drive to his home state of Maine to participate in the presidential caucus.
"I still consider myself a Mainer," he said. "So I'd like my vote to count there."
Christine Tonkin, a Democrat who moved to Toronto from Virginia in 2004, said she will vote through absentee ballot, although she is aware of the online primary.
"I'm skeptical of it because it's the first time," she said. "I don't want my vote not to count because there's a hiccup in the technology."
Ms. Tonkin said that since moving to Canada, issues of foreign policy have played a greater role in who she supports for president.
"It's become more important because of how I am being viewed as an American abroad," she said. "I'm being viewed negatively based on how my government has handled itself, and I don't appreciate that."
