This Los Angeles Times article shows a polling station in southern California for the French presidential election held Sunday, May 7. Apparently in some cities outside France, probably cities with French consulates, the consulates set up polling stations for citizens of France living in that area.
I can verify this is true. Not only that, but those polling stations in America all vote on the saturday of the election weekend. Overall, in America Macron won 90-10 having the best result in NY and Le Pen got her best result in Asuncion, Paraguay (a 66-34, still in favour of Macron).
It is more than they just vote for President they will also be able to vote in the National Assemnly elections for a Deputy in June.
There are 11 constituencies outside of France including one that covers the US and Canada (not including Saint Pierre et Miquelon which sends its own deputy being patt of France)
Voting stations are organized by consulate (866 in 450)
For the San Francisco consulate:
San Francisco (3)
Palo Alto (3)
Berkeley (2)
Sausalito
Honolulu, HI
Portland, OR
Bellvue, WA
There is also a consulate in Los Angeles, with voting stations throughout the USA Southwest.
I found the results for the polling stations associated with the Houston consulate, which had 2 voting stations in Houston, 1 in Austin, and 1 in Dallas. It appears that voters are assigned to individual consulates and polling stations. I’m not certain, but it appears that the division in Houston is based on (sur)name. The Houston consulate also serves Arkansas and Oklahoma, so voters from those areas may have had to travel to Dallas. Turnout was higher in Houston than the other cities.
In the election for Parliament (June 4, June 11, and June 18) the French abroad vote in 11 constituencies. (1) USA and Canada; (2) Latin America; (3) Northern Europe, including Nordic and Baltic countries, and Britain and Ireland; (4) Benelux; (5) Spain and Portugal; (6) Switzerland; (7) Central and Eastern Europe, including Germany and countries to southeast; (8) Southern Europe, including Italy, Greece, Turkey, and Israel; (9) Northwest Africa; (10) Remainder of Africa and Middle East; Rest of the world, Former Soviet Union, Asia from Iran eastward, Australia and Oceania.
These constituencies were drawn as part of the last redistricting, and came at the expense of 11 constituencies in Metropolitan France. Parliamentary elections are Top 2 style. In France and its territories, the first round will be June 11, with the runoff if necessary on June 18. For the French abroad the first round will be June 4, apparently to permit the votes to be aggregated.
I recall that the Philippines allowed overseas citizens to vote at their consulates during the 2016 election. I think that Taiwan does this as well. Is there any centralized information on which countries do this?
Doing a bit more research French Nationals living abroad can also vote by proxy (offically designating another person to vote on their behalf) or by postal vote.
So no need to actually go to a consulate etc.
Rules different to US elections – the postal vote needs to be received by close of polls. Any late arrivals not counted.
Walt – Add Australia to your list. But not the UK where you can vote by proxy or postal but using a postal risks the ballot not getting back to the UK in time to be counted.
The proxy needs to be designated in advance, and it might require a trip to the consulate. It might be useful if someone were going to be traveling. But if the proxy also has to be a French citizen, it might be difficult to find someone you trust. If you are in Little Rock, and your spouse is a French citizen, it is only slightly easier for one person to travel to Dallas rather than as a couple.
Postal voting was not available for the presidential vote. It will be available for the parliamentary election. Oddly, the ballot for the first round must be returned a couple of days before the election, while that for the runoff can lag a couple of days. A voter is warned that the mail outside France is not always reliable, and voters might be better off voting in person (mail ballots are returned to the consulate).
The French consulate in Miami represents French citizens in Puerto Rico, and there was a voting location in San Juan, so French citizens in Puerto Rico could vote for president, even though US citizens in Puerto Rico could not.
The original purpose of the consulate registration was so that they could contact French citizens in case of an emergency, but it was later extended to voting purposes. In effect, it is a means of voter registration with election authorities in the locality of their residence, whether permanent or temporary. There is now an increase in registrations prior to a presidential election. There are now about 1.8 million registered French citizens who do not live in France, out of an estimated 2.5 million eligible.
I suppose it should not be surprising, but there is a tendency for French citizens to live in francophone countries. The largest number are in Switzerland with about 10% of the total. Other large numbers are in Belgium, especially compared to the number in Netherlands. There are large numbers in the UK, and USA but not so many relative to the population or nearness. The US has about 50% more than Canada, but relatively speaking Canada has 6 times as many, likely in Montreal and the remainder of Quebec.
There are also surprising numbers in places like Malagasy Republic (Madagascar), Vanuatu, and St. Lucia, as well as the Maghreb, and former territories in West Africa.
Another interesting feature of the French elections for foreign-resident voters, is that voters supply an e-mail address for communication with the consulate. But political parties and candidates have access to the address.
A voter may supply two addresses, one for official communication, and one for campaign communication. And if they did not want to receive more e-mail from a party, they may unsubscribe.
If the US were to adopt a similar system, they would have the challenge that the US does not have any national popular elections. But the US could provide registration of overseas voters through consulates, and the military. The registrations could be forwarded to the state authorities, with addresses stripped from military voters.
Notice of an election could be pushed through the consulates to the voters. Voters could appear at the consulate, and have a ballot printed on demand. The consulate would verify identity, and contact the state to produce an appropriate ballot. The completed ballots could be returned in a diplomatic pouch and/or transmitted electronically through a secure channel.
An additional feature of this system is that civilian US citizens could be included in the Census count. In the past the US has tested taking a Census, but they don’t have very complete records where civilians are residing. They count the military, because the military keeps better track of its personnel and their families,