How you can campaign for Bernie Sanders here in the UK

There is less than a week to go until Super Tuesday, and the campaign for Bernie Sanders couldn’t be more inspiring for those of us in the UK wanting to see real, progressive change for working people. And for some of us in the UK, we haven’t just been keeping up with the US election because it’s interesting. We’ve been keeping up with the election because we can vote in it – and we’re doing everything we can to get Bernie into the White House.

Around a quarter of a million US citizens of voting age live in the UK, including students and dual citizens like me. Democrats Abroad, the overseas wing of the Democratic Party, is recognised as a state like any other in elections, and thousands of US citizens around the world will vote in the Global Primary – a Super Tuesday state – between March 3rd and 10th.

Like all other states, Democrats Abroad will send delegates to the Democratic National Convention, which selects the Presidential nominee. US citizens can vote early in the primary online now, or cast their vote in-person in our polling stations in London and around the world. Voters need to register as a Democrats Abroad member to vote, which can be done online or in polling stations. Larry Sanders, the original Bernie bro, has been tirelessly spreading the word about the Global Primary and why we should vote for his brother in it. 

While hundreds of thousands of people vote in US states during the primaries, only a fraction of overseas US citizens vote in the Global Primary, however. In 2016, Democrats Abroad and Vermont sent similar numbers of delegates to the Convention (13 and 16 respectively), but around 134,000 people voted in Vermont and less than 35,000 people voted in the Global Primary.

Votes cast in our primary count for four times as much as in ‘home states’. That’s the message the Bernie 2020 UK campaign, coordinated as part of Bernie Abroad by Eric Lee and Travis Mooney, has been taking across the UK: your vote is far more powerful if it’s cast in our primary than your home state. And for Bernie supporters, the Global Primary is ours to win – we won it for Bernie in 2016 by 69%.

What can Brits do to help Bernie win the primary nomination, so that he can fight it out against Trump and get to the White House? You don’t have to be a US citizen to volunteer. People of all nationalities are campaigning with us. Here’s some ideas:

• Help us canvass to get out the vote for our Global Primary. In London, we canvass university campuses and places like Borough Market where Americans hang out. All our events can be found on our Facebook page. Follow us on Twitter @Bernie2020UK and join our mailing list for updates.
• Come to our rally in Parliament Square on Super Tuesday, March 3rd, to show your support for Bernie and help us get out the vote on the biggest day in the presidential primary season.
• Join us for phonebanking to help get out the vote in US states. This will start after March 10th – keep an eye out for updates.

If you’re wondering what it’s like to canvass for Bernie outside the US, then yes, it elicits all kinds of responses, including confusion and people gently informing us we’re in the wrong country. But the reactions we get from Londoners is overwhelmingly positive. Americans are consistently surprised and excited to discover that they can vote here.

We get lots of hugs and selfies, because while establishment Democrats won’t admit it, people from a huge range of backgrounds and political persuasions are enamoured with Bernie, his principles, and the millions of people fighting with him for social justice. We very easily find Americans to canvass in London; friends canvassing in rural states have been irritably texting us to point out we probably have a higher American voter contact rate than they do. 

Waving a Bernie sign in Borough Market on a Saturday might feel a little strange at first, but our days getting out the vote in London have been joyful and full of hope. This election is a global movement. Join us.

Bernie 2020 UK website: bernie2020abroad.org
Bernie 2020 UK Twitter: twitter.com/Bernie2020UK
Bernie 2020 UK Facebook: facebook.com/bernie2020uk
Democrats Abroad website: democratsabroad.org/join