Extending Voting Rights to Emigrants: A Global Analysis of Actors, Processes and Outcomes

Since 1980, most states have granted voting rights to citizens living abroad. Although cross-national research focuses on when and where emigrant enfranchisement occurs, there has been little systematic attention to the variation in how enfranchisement occurs (for example, by constitutional amendment) and who extends these rights (international actors, for example). We argue that the variation in legal modalities and political actors is important for understanding why enfranchisement occurs and helps to account for the subsequent institutional inclusion—and exclusion—of emigrant voters. Using an original dataset which documents every extension of non-citizen voting rights (n = 153), we uncover variations in legal processes, regionally and over time. Although legislation is the most common enfranchisement pathway, judiciaries have become increasingly involved since 2000, particularly in Asian and African countries. Furthermore, emigrant enfranchisements involving constitutional reforms or plebiscites tend to be the most durable, whereas enfranchisements by international agreement are most prone to policy reversals.