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Operation Clark County
The result of the American election in less than three weeks could have huge consequences for the whole world. Yet those of us outside the 50 states have had no say in it. Until now, that is.
In the spirit of the Declaration of Independence's pledge to show "a decent respect to the opinions of mankind", we have come up with a unique way for non-Americans to express your views on the policies and candidates in this election to some of the people best placed to decide its outcome. It's not quite a vote, but it's a chance to influence how a very important vote will be cast. Or, at the very least, make a new penpal.
It works like this. By typing your email address into the box on this page, you will receive the name and address of a voter in Clark County, Ohio. You may not have heard of it, but it's one of the most marginal areas in one of the most marginal states: at the last election, just 324 votes separated Democrats from Republicans. It's a place where a change of mind among just a few voters could make a real difference.
Writing to a Clark County voter is a chance to explain how US policies effect you personally, and the rest of the world more generally, and who you hope they will send to the White House. It may even persuade someone to use their vote at all.
A few tips about writing to Clark County:
Be courteous. Remember that it's unusual to receive a lobbying letter from someone in another country. Think about how you would respond if you received a letter from Ohio urging you to vote for Tony Blair - or Michael Howard . . .
Don't make any assumptions about the voter with whom you have been matched. His or her name comes from the publicly available voters' roll. The voter has not registered any party affiliation. (We don't want individual Clark County voters bombarded with lobbying letters so this site will assign only one name and address to each user - please don't pass yours on to anyone else.)
Explain why you think they should pay the slightest bit of attention to what you think about their election. Remember, charm will be far more effective than hectoring.
Of course, who you urge your voter to support is entirely up to you. On October 20 we will publish a selection of the most persuasive letters to Clark County in the Guardian. To have yours considered, please email a copy to clark.county@guardian.co.uk.
That, for now, is our part. Over to you.
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Personally I find this infuriating. If I ever recieved a letter from someone in another country trying to tell me who to vote for, I would promptly send a letter back telling them to shove it. This is an American Election and the only place for foreigners is to sit back and watch.
When I was in Germany during the summer, they were holding elections for the EU Members of Parliment. I said nothing of my opinions to the Germans. The only time I gave an opinion was after the votes had been counted, then I said that I was pleased with the result.
But on the other hand, I had several Germans tell me how I should vote in this election. In every case I told them that this is an American election and the opinions of Germans bears no weight. If they pressed the issue further I replied with, "Meinetwegen." (Translation: I don't care) And in every case it just pissed me off that these Europeans thought they knew how to run America better than the Americans themselves.