How Michelle Obama Sparked My Drive to Turn Out the Vote

It is easy to forget about voting when you are outside the United States. But in 2024, my life in Johannesburg, South Africa, has turned into a crusade of sorts — one aimed at rallying Americans here to make sure their voices are heard by voting!

Voting from overseas can feel like a distant, almost optional obligation, but in a world where democratic norms are increasingly fragile, silence is not an option. My mission is simple: ensure that every U.S. citizen I meet in Johannesburg understands why their vote matters and, more importantly, that they act on it.

When I think back to this time in 2020, I was completely unexcited about voting, although I did indeed vote! In 2016 I stumped all throughout eastern North Carolina to help get Democrats elected up and down the ballot. But by 2020, I came to the surprising realization that I felt uninspired about encouraging others to head to the polls. Even the people around me were confused by my decision to take a personal, hands-off approach to helping Democrats get elected.

In early August of this year, I was still hemming and hawing about how active I would be with the 2024 election. And besides, I no longer live in the United States.

But after watching the television broadcast of Michelle Obama at the Democratic National Convention, my perspective changed. She said, “Do Something,” and I knew, right then, that I had to DO SOMETHING! So, I hopped on a flight the following day and flew to the DNC in Chicago.

I spoke to folks, listened to the speakers, and then listened to Vice President Kamala Harris. It was at that moment that I reconnected with my “personal” — the deeply rooted reason why, despite the distance and challenges, I had to be involved.

In August of 2014, I was wrongfully arrested due to being mistakenly identified as the wrong tall, Black male suspected of being involved in a bank robbery. I became an “active citizen” so I could right that which had been wronged — no innocent citizen who is wrongfully arrested, and let go as innocent, should still have an arrest record.

By working with state legislators, my “AutoErase” criminal justice reform language has been included in newly created laws in over 20 states. These new laws will now “automatically erase” (expunge) arrest records of individuals whose arrests were never prosecuted or dropped.

In retrospect, in 2016 my “personal” in 2016 helped me fully support Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign because she published a comprehensive, upfront, and clear criminal justice reform plan. If Kamala Harris is not elected president, Donald Trump and Project 2025 will ensure that not only will criminal justice not be reformed, but there may also not be any “justice” at all! Hence, MY PERSONAL!

My personal enticed me to reach out to four people and encourage them to reach out to four people to ensure they vote early. That personal thing has created a drive in me to, after landing back in Johannesburg in early September, help influence the outcome of the 2024 U.S. election by going around Joburg preaching the Gospel of Voting Abroad at votefromabroad.org.

It is not too late for you to find YOUR Personal.

This meant going to events at night when I did not want to — just to be able to “meet and preach.” It meant helping the Democrats Abroad South Africa club create merch or events when I would have been binge-watching some Hulu series. It meant becoming a de facto “spokesperson” for Dems Abroad in South Africa, periodically speaking on all-Zulu or all-Afrikaans radio stations in an all-English interview. But I did it and am still doing it because I found my Personal!

Now, let me be clear: A quick review of the lowlights of Project 2025, a brief listen to ANY of the Republican candidate’s interviews or speeches, or just a Google search of Vice President Harris’ goals for the next four years versus anything out of her opponent’s camp makes me very aware that there are many, many items and actions (or lack thereof) that will also greatly affect me!

But it was my Personal that drove me to do more!

Although today is election day, it is not too late for you to find YOUR Personal! Once you do, once you understand why this election will impact you if it does not turn out how you want it to, trust me, you will certainly not only vote, but you will also feel this overwhelming fire to help ensure that EVERYONE you know votes.

You will want to knock on doors! You will want to make calls! You will even want to make a last-minute donation. Because believe me, you don’t want to wake up Wednesday morning, November 6, and realize it is too late and your whole world is now about to be completely different than it once was.

I encourage you to FIND YOUR PERSONAL this very moment and in the words of Michelle Obama…DO SOMETHING!

Charles Belk is an American expat living in Johannesburg.

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