American expats living in the UK have shared their anxiety and anticipation as polls open in the US for the 2024 presidential election.
The run-off between Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump is one of the closest races in US history, and on Tuesday millions of Americans headed to their local polling station to cast their votes.
In the UK, expats from both sides of the US political aisle have been sending their vote by absentee ballot, including “cautiously optimistic” Democrat Pete Lawler.
The 46-year-old from Pennsylvania said the last few weeks have been “anxiety inducing and exciting in equal measure”.
Mr Lawler, a teacher living in Walthamstow in east London, has spent the last two months campaigning across the city to get fellow Americans in the UK to vote.
“On the weekends, we’ll go to places like Marlyebone or Hampstead Heath or there’s an American-themed bar in Waterloo,” he told the PA news agency.
“We net as many Americans abroad as possible, and we assist them and make sure they know how to get their ballot in.”
Mr Lawler, who has voted for the Democratic party, has “full faith” Ms Harris can secure the presidency.
“I have full faith that Kamala can pull it off – I’m cautiously optimistic,” he said.
Mr Lawley said his parents are deeply conservative “(Ronald) Reagan Republicans”, but his mother recently told him she likes to wait until she gets to the voting booth to make up her mind – which he said gave him hope she will vote with him.
Mr Lawler, who has lived in the UK for 20 years, said although he does not know when he will return to the US he hopes to one day go back to a country that is “normal, sane and familiar”.
On Tuesday evening, he plans to join his fellow campaigners in Holborn, central London, where he will be assisting in calling swing states and reminding people to vote.
Meanwhile in Essex, Linda Impey, 77, will be hoping for a Republican victory.
Mrs Impey, a retired school matron from Maryland, was disappointed not to be able to cast her vote as her absentee ballot did not arrive after applying for it.
Mrs Impey, whose father was in the US air force, told PA: “If I had been able to vote I would have voted Republican.
“Being in the military, that’s always been the way we voted.
“I really don’t think Joe Biden has done a good job. I think that pulling the troops out of Afghanistan, like he did was a real nightmare.
“I don’t care for the Democrats, because for me, they’re much too woke and much too left wing, really.”
While she thinks that Mr Trump is “a hell of a character”, she said she agrees with his policies and the way he thinks.
“Kamala Harris is quite a shallow character that doesn’t speak from her own heart or her own head,” she added.
If Mr Trump wins the election, Mrs Impey said she and her husband will celebrate with a glass of wine.
