Midterm melee: Americans in the Netherlands gear up to vote

Americans living abroad can often feel like they’re stuck on the political sidelines of their native land. With one of the most contentious midterm elections in US history coming up next month, we spoke with the Netherlands’ American community about how they’re getting involved in the race and the challenges they face.

For the past two years, Donald Trump has dominated headlines around the world. It seems like there’s little the divisive president and his administration haven’t disrupted within and well beyond US borders.

There’s no denying that much is riding on the country’s midterms on November 3 and that the result will have a defining impact on the course of global politics over the next few years.

As with prior elections, Americans living in the Netherlands may feel there’s little they can do besides mail in their absentee ballots – and even that is an often complicated process that many fail to complete.

Each state sets its own deadlines and decides whether ballots can go back by email, fax or post. A ballot posted from the Netherlands also has to cross the Atlantic in time to be counted.

Some don’t bother at all, and some feel they shouldn’t. “One of the reasons why many in the Netherlands don’t vote is because they’ve been here for a very long time,” said Tre’ Shawn Griffin-Noordermeer, vice chair of the Netherlands chapter of Democrats Abroad. “They feel like they shouldn’t be voting because they’ve lived outside the US for so long.”

In fact, federal law lets US citizens abroad keep voting in federal elections in the state where they last lived, however long they have been away.

To help get that message out, various groups here have been volunteering and hosting events in the days leading up to the midterms.

Reaching out to voters
Members of campaign group Democrats Abroad in the Netherlands have spent recent weeks running an email campaign and arranging “Vote From Abroad” gatherings on Zoom.

They’ve also been hosting lunches and other events in cities around the country to discuss the midterms along with putting up fliers and getting the word out on social media and via phone banking.

“We’ve got hundreds of volunteers here in the Netherlands who have been helping with this,” Griffin-Noordermeer told Dutch News. “A few weekends ago, we called over 13,000 people.”

Originally founded in 1964, Democrats Abroad serves as the Democratic party’s official organisation for American citizens living overseas. One of its primary tasks is encouraging its members and other voters, who are spread across 197 countries, to cast their ballots.

And that’s more difficult than it might seem.

Counting the voters
Nobody knows exactly how many Americans in the Netherlands can vote. The US does not require citizens to register with the government when they move abroad, and some states drop overseas voters from their rolls when they stop responding to election mail. That leaves neither the State Department nor voter lists with a reliable count.

The national statistics office CBS puts the number of US nationals living in the Netherlands at just over 27,000 in 2026 – though not all are old enough to vote, and Dutch-Americans with both passports are counted as Dutch, so aren’t included.

Worldwide, about 2.2 million Americans of voting age live abroad, according to the Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP), the US defence department office that helps military and overseas citizens vote. FVAP estimates only about 11% of them voted in the 2024 presidential election. Even fewer typically take part in midterms.

FVAP says 14.8% of eligible voters in Europe voted in 2024.

Preparing for the worst
Despite Trump’s low approval ratings, the path to a “blue wave” for the Democrats won’t necessarily be an easy one.

His administration also continues to meddle with the midterms. In August, the Pentagon, which runs FVAP, made last-minute changes to the Federal Post Card Application (the form overseas voters use to register and request ballots), removing the checkbox for US citizens who were born abroad and have never lived in the US. The Democratic National Committee has gone to court over the change.

That followed a March 2025 executive order in which Trump sought to add proof-of-citizenship requirements to the same form, parts of which federal courts have blocked. The order also aimed to stop states counting mail ballots that arrive after Election Day.

In June, the US Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that states can keep counting ballots postmarked by Election Day that arrive later. That matters for voters whose ballots travel by international post.

Hayley Hughes, the co-founder of the Netherlands chapter of Indivisible, admitted she’s worried about how things might go.

She has already had discussions with the leads of other chapters about what to do if the administration interferes with ballot counts or sends government agents to polling stations.

Trump has said Republicans should “take over the voting” in at least 15 places, and his former adviser Steve Bannon has welcomed the idea of immigration agents at the polls.

“We’re already thinking we might have to mobilise,” Hughes told Dutch News.

“We’re looking at a protest here that week, if needed. In the US, there could be a mass mobilisation of peaceful protests and a general strike where people don’t go to work or school. We all hope that won’t be needed.”

The week of the midterms

Several midterm events are scheduled for the week of the elections. The Atlantische Commissie in The Hague is hosting an “American midterm election breakfast” on 4 November.

In Amsterdam, the commission is also helping with the John Adams Institute’s “Midterm Madness” event on November 6. It’s set to serve as an afterparty with a ‘festival-style experience’ featuring live music along with discussions and lectures about the results featuring Mark Leibovich, a staff writer at The Atlantic, and others.

Comedian Greg Shapiro is once again teaming up with Pep Rosenfeld for an Election Night Party at Boom Chicago. They’ve hosted these events since the ‘00s and are once again prepared to stay up late. The comedy club has vowed to remain open past 4:00 “if things get crazy.”

“How late, well, we’ll wait and see,” Shapiro told Dutch News. “I’ve got performances the next day. At some point I’ll have to get some sleep.”

Shapiro will be taking a break from his ongoing ‘KING ME: 250 Years of Donald Trump’ comedy tour for the Boom Chicago gathering. He’s worried about how much rewriting he’ll have to do for subsequent performances after the midterms.

“There’s no telling what could happen,” he said. “It could become January 6th on a national scale.”

If you’re an American living overseas and haven’t voted yet, there could still be time based on where you’re registered. Visit votefromabroad.org for further assistance.