Sir, - Your editorial on emigrant voting rights is timely. As an American citizen, I am currently awaiting my absentee ballot for the upcoming presidential election. In fact, citizens living outside the US are entitled to vote in all Federal elections. Depending on the voter's reason for being abroad and the state in which he is registered, he may be eligible to vote in a range of other local and statewide elections.
Many people in Ireland claim that the percentage of its citizens who are living outside the country militates against allowing emigrants to vote. The opposite should be the case. A state that has so many of its citizens' living abroad should be obliged to allow them to exercise their franchise, in order to allow them to remedy the causes of their leaving in the first place.
Ireland is not the only country that has a large number of citizens in exile. I clearly remember the contrast created in New York when Ireland's last presidential election coincided with Poland's presidential election. Polish emigrants flocked to their embassy to vote, while Irish emigrants were not allowed to vote for an essentially figurehead President. That this took place while Poland was still under martial law heightened the embarrassment for disenfranchised Irish immigrants. - Yours, etc,
Castle Village Rise,
Celbridge Co Kildare.