10.7910/DVN/SWSY7T Wellman, Elizabeth Iams Elizabeth Iams Wellman https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8541-3522 Princeton University Harvard Dataverse 2020 Social Sciences Election, Migration, Diaspora, Africa Wellman, Elizabeth Elizabeth Wellman Princeton University 2020-07-21 2020-07-21 10.7910/DVN/SWSY7T/COEDO4 10.7910/DVN/SWSY7T/9G80UJ 10.7910/DVN/SWSY7T/3UATDB 10.7910/DVN/SWSY7T/MN3CYU 10.7910/DVN/SWSY7T/AKII51 10.7910/DVN/SWSY7T/MSNGDZ 10.7910/DVN/SWSY7T/IFJBPZ 10.7910/DVN/SWSY7T/ROHJI1 10.7910/DVN/SWSY7T/UXODTV 10.7910/DVN/SWSY7T/QL11PW 196802 3105 21237 11431 9762 56364 7146 9448 3355 5312 text/tab-separated-values application/x-stata-syntax application/x-stata-syntax text/tab-separated-values text/rtf text/tab-separated-values application/x-stata-syntax application/x-stata-syntax application/x-stata-syntax application/x-stata-syntax 1.0 Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication. Since 1990, nearly 100 countries extended voting rights to citizens living abroad, including 32 in sub-Saharan Africa. However, the actual ability for emigrants to vote in subsequent elections varies widely. Whereas others view diaspora enfranchisement as a signal to emigrant and international audiences, I argue that incumbent parties expand or restrict emigrant voter access depending on party perceptions of political support abroad. I first leverage the multiple reversals over emigrant inclusion in South African elections since 1994 to illuminate how changing dynamics between an incumbent party and citizens abroad shape emigrant voter access. I further test my argument with an original dataset covering multiple dimensions of external voting in every African election where emigrants had voting rights from 1990 to 2015. I find a robust relationship between emigrant voter access and diaspora support for the incumbent party.