Marisa’s abroad in Madrid, Spain, until Dec. 19.

Election Day is finally here, and much like all of you, we are eagerly anticipating tonight’s results from afar. Of course, they won’t really be “tonight’s results” over here because of the time difference, so I’ll either be staying up until dawn constantly refreshing CNN.com until we finally have a winner or trying to watch elections returns while crammed into a room packed with drunken Americans at a viewing party organized by a group of ex-pats near Plaza de España.

Being an American abroad during an election year has been an interesting experience. Even in notoriously apathetic Spain, I can tell that people are anxiously awaiting tomorrow morning’s front page. More so than any other time I’ve been in Europe, even during the Iraq fiasco and the beginning of supreme European Bush-hatred in 2003, I feel like I’m being viewed as a representative of my country. It’s like everyone is counting on me, like I have the responsibility to elect Obama since none of them can vote and I have that special privilege. I am anticipating either disgusted scowls or congratulatory grins tomorrow and for the next few weeks, depending on the results of the election.

But while I’m unhappy about missing the Election Night excitement back home and will be feeling pretty helpless as I cross my fingers that I’ll be receiving congratulations instead of taking abuse for the rest of my time here, I’m at least grateful that I was able to vote despite being abroad. I found out yesterday from my boyfriend, who is studying in China this fall, that no one received their absentee ballots because China screened the mail and wouldn’t let them into the country. Some of his friends’ parents had just received returned ballots in the mail with something stating that US ballots would not be admitted to the country. Others won’t even get the chance to have their parents fill out their ballots for them since they haven’t made it back home yet. Essentially, he and almost all of his friends and any other Americans living in China were disenfranchised by the decisions of a foreign country. I was shocked and horrified. Well, not really shocked; it is China, after all, and they certainly don’t have an impressive track record when it comes to civil and human rights. But I can’t even imagine how disappointed and furious I would be if that had happened to me, especially considering how upset I am as it is.

So while he makes some last minute calls to the Santa Barbara County Clerk, my job is done and all I can do is wait it out until about midnight when the results first start to come in. It’s going to be a long night…and hopefully a really bright morning.

Read Marisa’s previous post l Meet the rest of our abroad bloggers