US Democrats court expatriate voters on Swiss public transport

A question aimed at American passengers now rides through Basel and Geneva: “Are you a US citizen?” Leaflets on trams and buses, alongside posters in Zurich, direct expatriate voters to non-partisan registration websites ahead of the November 2026 US midterm elections.

Democrats Abroad Switzerland is behind the campaign. QR codes on the adverts provide information about registration and absentee voting in each voter’s home state, while the organisation seeks to increase Democratic turnout among Americans living in Switzerland. The campaign gives a visible Swiss setting to an election that will determine the balance of power in the US Congress.

The potential electorate is substantial by expatriate standards. US federal figures counted nearly 32,000 eligible US voters living in Switzerland during the 2024 presidential election. About half were dual Swiss-American citizens, linking American political decisions to households and communities established in Switzerland.

The adverts appear in the country’s main centres of American life. Basel’s pharmaceutical sector attracts workers from the United States, while Geneva and Zurich host international organisations, companies and professional networks with strong US ties. For commuters, the campaign is part of the daily journey to work, not a message confined to an American association meeting.

The campaign’s target is a dispersed electorate with complicated voting logistics. Americans abroad must generally register under the rules of their US state, request the relevant ballot and return it within deadlines that vary across the country. Democrats Abroad says its QR codes lead voters to neutral information rather than directly to a party ballot.

Liz Voss, president of the organisation’s Basel chapter, said Democrats Abroad has several thousand members in Switzerland, although she did not give an exact figure. The group has also sent postcards to members as part of the current drive.

The organisation used public transport advertising during the 2022 midterms, when pandemic restrictions made large gatherings difficult. Voss said the format offered an effective way to use limited funds. Seasonal discounts from transport operators helped make the 2026 tram campaign possible.

The effort is expected to cost a low five-figure sum. Democrats Abroad relies on donations and does not charge membership fees. New data protection rules have also shaped the strategy: paid political advertising on social media is no longer available, pushing the organisation toward physical posters, vehicles and direct mail.

That choice places the responsibility for voter action in highly visible public spaces. A passenger can scan a code between stops, then complete the process from home.

Donald Trump’s return to office has moved from campaign backdrop to organising principle. Voss said many Democrats Abroad members viewed his possible return as an “existential threat” and now see the midterms as an opportunity to block his political agenda through Congress.

That message reflects the wider polarisation experienced by Americans in Switzerland. The community includes Democrats, Republicans and independents, and the 2024 election exposed sharp disagreements over Trump, the direction of US institutions and America’s role abroad. Campaigning in Switzerland therefore reaches voters who may have left the United States years ago but remain closely connected to family, workplaces and politics there.

California and Texas are the home states of most Americans living in Switzerland, according to Voss. Other large groups come from northern California, New York and New Jersey. Their state affiliations matter because voting rules, deadlines and ballot procedures differ across jurisdictions.

Democrats Abroad is openly seeking Democratic votes, even as the registration links use non-partisan information platforms. The group’s public campaign offers one answer to a practical challenge: party organisers cannot assume that expatriates will follow every state-level rule from thousands of kilometres away.

Republicans Overseas did not respond to SRF’s request for information about its activities in Switzerland, leaving the Democratic campaign as the most visible partisan mobilisation effort currently documented.

The campaign shows how US political contests travel through Swiss institutions and everyday routines. Public transport operators provide the advertising space, Swiss data protection rules have removed one digital channel, and city streets have become the meeting point between American citizenship and expatriate life.

For Swiss residents, the posters are a reminder that citizenship abroad does not end political participation at home. A US national living in Basel may still vote in California or Texas, while a dual citizen may take part in civic life in both countries. The process is shaped by American state law, but the campaign reaches voters through Swiss workplaces, trams, buses and postboxes.

The initiative also reflects the concentration of international communities in Basel, Geneva and Zurich. Those cities connect residents to global employers and institutions, while their transport networks allow a relatively small organisation to reach thousands of potential voters without staging large events.

Democrats Abroad will measure success through registrations and returned ballots rather than poster visibility. The group’s immediate task is to persuade eligible Americans to scan, register and meet their state’s deadlines before November. Whether Republicans mount a comparable operation remains unclear.

For now, the US midterms have acquired a distinctly Swiss route to the ballot box: a campaign message encountered during the morning commute, followed by a vote sent across the Atlantic.