Ballots beyond borders: attitudes towards external voting in Colombia

Should emigrants be allowed to participate in elections in their country of origin? In an era of increasing mobility and migration, the number of countries that allow their citizens abroad to vote has increased exponentially over the last half century. Relatively little is known, however, about how citizens living in countries with external voting perceive the extension of voting rights to emigrants. We theorize that when external voting might determine the results of an election, voters in the origin country will question the election’s legitimacy and take political stances in favor of limiting the enfranchisement of citizens living abroad. We test this theory within the context of Colombian politics through an original survey experiment that varies the perceived threat of external voters. Specifically, we manipulate both (1) information about the size of the electorate abroad, and (2) information about the differences in preferences between the electorates in the country of origin and abroad. We find that, in general, Colombians living in Colombia strongly support voting by citizens living abroad, even when primed about the possible political consequences. Our results suggest that normative approval of the electoral institution of external voting supersedes strategic incentives to support or oppose it.