U.S. parties make unprecedented push for voters living in Canada

With the U.S. presidential election too close to call, American expats living in Canada have found themselves the subject of renewed attention from the big U.S. parties looking for untapped voter blocks.

“Overseas voters really are an extremely important voter block and a lot of times until recently they have been overlooked,” said Jacob Wesoky, executive vice-chair of Democrats Abroad Canada.

“I can tell you that our party hasn’t really taken it seriously in the past, the Democrats kind of had a much more organized overseas effort,” Georganna Burke, chapter lead of Republicans Overseas Canada.

Although overseas voter turnout has been pegged at around eight per cent in past elections, both Republicans and Democrats have been reaching across borders this time around, reminding Americans who live abroad about their right to vote.

“We’ve actually done a great deal of digital advertising to Canadian Republicans and Republicans all over the world,” said Burke. “We know that digital reaches many more people than door knocking can do.”

Despite that, Democrats told CityNews that they have been out and knocking on doors in parts of Canada.

“We actually had Democratic volunteers knocking on doors for the first time outside of the United States,” said Wesoky. “There’s a significant number, estimated about 20,000 eligible voters just in Windsor, Ont., and a lot of them also vote in Michigan, a critical swing state.”

Democrats and Republicans don’t meet eye-to-eye on many topics, both parties agree that Kamala Harris and her Democratic party has the advantage in Canada.

“There’s no data on this, but the general consensus is that overseas, non-military citizens, tend to vote overwhelmingly Democrat,” said Wesoky.

“It may in Canada be three to one Democrat to Republican votes, it’s not surprising, “ added Burke. “But I think the question is what will happen another countries? And I can tell you, for example, in Israel, Democrats are getting very, very few votes.”

Wayne Petrozzi studies politics with Toronto Metropolitan University. He said he’s not surprised at the increased effort to court voters abroad, adding the block has probably been worth a second look for a long time.

“I think American voters here are going to be like their counterparts in the United States, highly motivated to vote,” said Petrozzi. “In fact, I suspect we’re going to see a higher level of turnout of American voters resident in Canada then there will be of Americans resident within the United States.”