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I'm registered to vote in Michigan. I live in Mexico. Michigan's web site for requesting absentee ballots blocks connections from Mexico. I checked with various vpn endpoints, they seem to be blocking the poorer countries like Ukraine, Poland, Mexico, while passing the richer ones like UK, Germany, Canada.


I live in Japan and have the same problem with the Massachusetts department of state website (which contains voting information). I contacted my state representative (who does represent me, as I voted for him) and unfortunately he couldn't do much for me other than forward my inquiry.


What about running your own proxy or vpn on a vps?


I tried that on both AWS and on some super obscure (or so I thought), $2/mo Albanian VPS host. Both were blocked immediately.


Have you considered paying someone in the states to plug a raspberri pi into their router?


Now I just use a commercial VPN provider that does a decent job getting me through the screens.


Do you not have to be a resident of the state to be a voter?


You are a citizen of a state if you are a US citizen and reside in the state, but you may be a citizen of a state, and entitled to vote their, under other circumstances. Generally, I believe (and this is specifically the rule in California) citizens residing outside the US retain citizenship in the State (if any) in which they were last resident, and are eligible to vote more specifically based on their last resident address. (Military voters have different rules, this is general overseas citizens.)


From the US State Department:

>Most U.S. citizens 18 years or older who reside outside the United States are eligible to vote absentee for federal office candidates in U.S. primary and general elections. In addition, some states allow overseas citizens to vote for state and local office candidates and referendums. For information about your state, see the Voting Assistance Guide.

>In some states, U.S. citizens who are 18 years or older and were born abroad but who have never resided in the United States are eligible to vote absentee. Direct your questions about eligibility to local election officials

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-tra...




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