10.7910/DVN/SWSY7TWellman, Elizabeth IamsElizabeth IamsWellman0000-0001-8541-3522Princeton UniversityHarvard Dataverse2020Social SciencesElection, Migration, Diaspora, AfricaWellman, ElizabethElizabethWellmanPrinceton University2020-07-212020-07-21714631055312335594489762114315636419680221237application/x-stata-syntaxapplication/x-stata-syntaxapplication/x-stata-syntaxapplication/x-stata-syntaxapplication/x-stata-syntaxtext/rtftext/tab-separated-valuestext/tab-separated-valuestext/tab-separated-valuesapplication/x-stata-syntax1.0CC0 1.0Since 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.