I read a poll last week contending that if all the Americans who are living or traveling abroad voted, it would sway the course of the election.

Now, I’m not naïve enough to assume that everything I see on the Internet is true, especially from sources that are obviously catered to my opinions — thanks, Facebook! But it made me think about something. At any given point there are upwards of 7 million Americans not in America. And why would that be any different this November 8? Now there is absolutely nothing mind blowing or new in the paragraph you just read. In fact, it might even result in a “no, duh, Dorri” moment. But I have a case to bring to the table.

Voting from abroad is too hard.

Now I don’t say that because I am lazy, or unwilling to carry out my civil duty, (I voted) but for five very specific reasons. I’m going to lay out why there is an issue with our current absentee ballot program in terms of people that are outside the country. And yes, this is an issue that may not seem like that big of a deal. That is, until you are living in Amsterdam, hoping you get your ballot in time, fighting with the post office, trying to find a printer anywhere, and hoping your vote counts before America spontaneously combusts and you can’t even say that you did anything to try and stop it.

So without further ado: here are five reasons that the absentee ballot system for voters abroad is flawed.

1. Americans abroad are, for the most part, uneducated about how the system works.

I did some research on this. I am currently studying abroad in Amsterdam a highly international city, so I was able to speak to a lot of other Americans that are doing the same thing as me. Also, when I was traveling to other countries I would talk to as many Americans as I could about voting. Mostly because I am terrified for the future of our country, but also because I was curious. What I found was that most expats, or exchange students, or seasoned travelers had opinions and a desire to vote, but they had absolutely no clue where to begin. They didn’t know the dates that ballots need to be requested by, or even how many steps there are in the process of voting from a country outside of the states. Issue numero uno.

2. Online there are contradicting websites stating the dates that overseas voters need to submit their request for a ballot by.

Various websites tell you different information about how and when to submit their requests for ballots, or even their FWAB (federal write-in absentee ballot) forms. There are many possibilities in the form of websites to register and request your ballot, ranging from fvap.gov to votefromabroad.org, but this turns into both a blessing and a curse. It’s pretty simple if you find a good website and just follow their guidelines. It’s not so easy if you end up on one of the more complicated websites that don’t completely guide you through the process.

3. If you do not request your ballot in time, you are not allowed to fill out a last minute (this is still before the actual election date) FWAB form.

30 days before the Election Day, if you have not yet received your ballot, you can fill out a FWAB form, which allows you to vote without having to receive and send in the official ballot. However, US citizens who did not send out for their absentee ballot before the deadline (varies from state to state), are not allowed to fill out a FWAB. Or else, they can, but their vote will not be counted, because they did not go through the appropriate process.

4. Often, people simply do not receive their ballots.

This may seem like a joke, like, of course, we have figured out how to get ballots to people who want to do their civic duty and vote. But I promise you, it is not. A plethora of people that I have spoken to waited a very long time, to either never receive their ballot at all, or get it way too late for them to fill it out and send it back in time for it to count. Reminder: mailing things from a different country to the US does not take a short amount of time (understatement of the year)

5. On the bottom of the absentee ballot form is a list of 4 reasons why many absentee ballots are refused for.

This includes “poor handwriting” “envelope wasn’t returned to correct address” and also that “the voters signature doesn’t match the one on file”.

Now this may not seem like that big of a deal, but let me use myself as an example for this. My “official” signature that the government has on file is the one from the driver’s license, that I invented when I was 16. Instead of actually signing my name, I thought it would be really cool just to do some random loops. Now every time that I sign an official document, I have to do identical loops to the ones on my license. (This happened four years ago for the last federal election for president) While, yes, this is an extreme example of this issue, it is a minor example of a much larger problem. Every time there is an election, there are at least 10,000 absentee ballots that simply do not count. Oftentimes, the voter will never even know that their vote did not count.

There are few things more important than voting.

Now I don’t just say this because this election is the biggest political shit show I have ever seen in my mere 25 years of life, but because the United States democracy demands that the people take part in the political process in order to remain a democracy at all. There must be a change, and a clarification made to the way that Americans can vote from abroad. Because it does not matter if you are an exchange student, if you’re living abroad, or even if you’re accidentally on vacation for a month and the elections falls within it, your voice counts. What you have to say matters, and your voice should be heard.

It may be hard, but it is your right, it is your duty, it is your privilege.

To VOTE.