Why Americans living abroad are a voting bloc with untapped political potential

After graduating high school in Georgia in 1969, Herbert Ruffin was drafted into the military to serve as an infantryman in Vietnam. A year later, he was badly wounded in a firefight. He was awarded the Purple Heart and went on to serve his country for more than two decades.

But when it came time to retire, Ruffin chose to continue living abroad.

"The quality of life for me, as a person of color — there was better opportunities for me to live in Germany," he says. "I was born in the 1950s, so I came through some very challenging years being raised in the South."

Ruffin, 72, remains a registered voter in Maryland, where he typically votes for Democrats. He says he still feels a deep sense of patriotism and takes voting as an American overseas seriously.

"Where I grew up, opportunities to vote were restricted," he says. "I have a voice and I can encourage others to vote and let them know they can vote from abroad."

Ruffin is one of at least 3 million American expatriates of voting age, a voting bloc that organizers and researchers are still trying to understand in an era of data-driven political