I’m an American voter overseas. For years, we were ignored – but maybe this time we’ll make the difference | Alexander Hurst

In the rush to defeat Trump, we're suddenly on the frontline. It's a shame, then, that so few of us actually vote

The United States doesn't show much love to its citizens who live abroad. For instance, it was impossible for me to declare my driving licence lost and request a reprint because my home state of Ohio's state government website seems to frequently not work outside the US. And while a VPN provides a potential workaround, the steps to verify your identity require ... a US phone number. No, the infamous citizenship-based taxation and financial reporting regime - meaning Americans worldwide have to report their accounts held in foreign financial institutions to the IRS - doesn't only affect wealthy tax cheats, it makes life difficult for plenty of normal people. And if you're fed up enough to want to ditch your US citizenship, well, I hope you've got money to burn, because that will cost you a $2,350 administrative processing fee.

The one thing that's always worked pretty well for me, though, is voting from a distance. Some states are more online than others, allowing you to email a request for an absentee ballot", whereas Ohio makes me sign a paper form and send it in the mail. From that point on, however, every time I have voted things have gone smoothly. By mid-September this year, a thick envelope landed in my mailbox in Paris, containing the six-page ballot with little blank ovals waiting to be bubbled in with a pen. Not just the presidential race, but also for Senate and the House of Representatives, a host of state offices, a dozen or so races to elect various judges and, finally, state and local ballot initiatives. (If you're curious - yes, I voted to raise local taxes on alcohol and cigarettes to increase funding for Cleveland municipal schools.)

Alexander Hurst is a Guardian Europe columnist