With the presidential election days away, the U.S. consul is urging Americans living in Manitoba to turn out the vote in what is widely projected to be a hotly contested race.
“Voting is one of the cornerstones of our democracy, both in the U.S. and in Canada, and I think for Americans living in Manitoba, it is just as important that they vote,” U.S. Consul Rebecca Molinoff said in a phone interview from her office in Winnipeg.
“Elections these days are closer than ever. It sometimes feels like the election results come down to just a handful of states, sometimes just a handful of counties within those states.”
Ruth Bonneville / Free Press
American citizen Billy Jaye has lived in Winnipeg for decades and cast his U.S. presidential election ballot earlier this week. ‘It’s really not complicated,’ he says.
There are an estimated 17,000 Americans living in Manitoba, but the consul did not have exact figures on how many are eligible to vote. Regardless, every ballot cast has the potential to sway the race, Molinoff said.
Polling from various sources Wednesday afternoon had former president Donald Trump and the Republicans nearly deadlocked with Democratic Vice-President Kamala Harris ahead of Tuesday’s election.
Who wins the White House could come down to the results in the projected swing states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Nevada, Arizona, Georgia and North Carolina.
Canada is home to an estimated 605,000 Americans, placing the population well above any other country outside the U.S. Despite this, voter turnout has been historically low, with only eight per cent participating in the 2020 U.S. election, according to a Federal Voting Assistance Program report to Congress.
“It’s really not complicated,” said Billy Jaye, 72, who cast his ballot by mail earlier this week.
Jaye, who was a standup comedian and movie actor, was born and raised in the Bronx, N.Y., and moved to Canada in 2003. At the time, his wife, Gloria Murray, was suffering from an illness and seeking medical care from the public health-care system.
Murray, who was a Canadian, “dragged” Jaye “kicking and screaming” to Winnipeg, where he soon fell in love with friendly Manitobans.
When his wife died in 2016, Jaye remained in the city that had become his home.
“I really do love it here in spite of the myriad problems that this town has,” he said. “There’s no way I would go back to New York … I just stayed on because I liked the people. I’m not here for the weather.”
While Jaye said he is not “not a very political person, really” he has voted in every presidential election for which he’s been eligible. He has paid considerably more attention to American politics since Trump took office in 2016, he said.
“I met the guy twice,” Jaye said of Trump, adding the former president inspires a kind of “morbid curiosity” in some Canadians.
“This is absolutely the most important election in my lifetime. And the margins — it’s such a dead heat — any American, no matter what their political persuasion is… if you don’t vote, you’re an idiot.”
Jaye’s vote will count in New York, which has voted for Democrats in every federal election since 1988.
Molinoff urged all Americans abroad to review their home state’s requirements and deadlines for voting. Some regions, such as North Dakota, will allow voters to request and submit absentee ballots by mail up until Monday, provided it is postmarked by that day, she said.
If the registration deadline in a state has passed, voters can use the federal write-in absentee ballot as an alternative. Even American citizens who were born in Canada and have never lived in the U.S. may be eligible to vote using the address of a parent or relative, Molinoff said.
“Anybody living in Canada who still has an interest in their home country is encouraged to take advantage of their right to vote,” she said. “Whoever is in the White House can have an impact both on domestic politics and on international relations.”
Mary Giles, a dual citizen who moved to Canada around 1970 and Winnipeg in 1978, said she is voting in the presidential election for the first time in around 50 years.
“I didn’t think I would ever vote in a U.S. election again, but I think the stakes are too high, both for the U.S. and in Canada,” said Giles, 79.
Concerns about the environment and potential tariffs imposed by the U.S. on Canada, depending on who wins the election, factored into her decision to vote, she said.
Giles said she believes the outcome of the election may also impact how Canadian politicians run their campaigns in the future. She hoped to send a message that divisive, inflammatory rhetoric is not a winning strategy.
Giles mailed her ballot in roughly one month ago. It will be counted in Virginia, where she last lived. Democrats won the state in 2020.
The deadlines for absentee ballots vary by state, so voters are encouraged to check the requirements for their state to ensure their ballot is counted. More information about how to register and request a ballot, and how to use the federal write-in absentee ballot is available online at www.fvap.gov.
tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca
Tyler Searle
Reporter
Tyler Searle is a multimedia producer who writes for the Free Press‘s city desk. A graduate of Red River College Polytechnic’s creative communications program, he wrote for the Stonewall Teulon Tribune, Selkirk Record and Express Weekly News before joining the paper in 2022. Read more about Tyler.
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