DEMOCRATS ABROAD

'Democrats Abroad' is the official organization of the Democratic Party for United States citizens living permanently or temporarily abroad. The organization is given state-level recognition by the Democratic National Committee.
Democrats Abroad currently has 60 committees, with 32 full status and 28 committees in formation. There are chapters in Europe, Asia, Africa, the Americas, and Oceania. These committees are formally represented by the 'Democratic Party Committee Abroad' (DPCA). Some countries with particularly large concentrations of Democratic expatriates even have local chapters. 'Young Democrats Abroad' represents Democrats Abroad in the functions of the Young Democrats of America.

Contents

History

Presidential election of 2004

Current leadership (2007)

Voting from abroad

Activities

See also

Footnotes

External links

History

Democrats Abroad was started with two small committees in London and Paris after Lyndon B. Johnson defeated Barry Goldwater in the 1964 U.S. presidential election. Its original leaders, Toby Hyde and Al Davidson, raised funds and formed committees, and pushed for state-level recognition of Democrats Abroad. DNC Chairman John Bailey allowed Democrats Abroad to send nine non-voting representatives to the Democratic National Convention in 1972; in 1976, the group was granted the status of a state committee, with voting delegates in the Convention.
Over the years, Democrats Abroad has worked for securing the full citizenship rights for Americans living abroad. In particular, the group worked for overseas voting rights issues, supporting the Voting Rights Act of 1975, the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act in 1986, and the Federal Emergency Write-In Ballot. Democrats Abroad switched the method of determining convention delegates from a primary to an open caucus in 1992. Former President Jimmy Carter is the current and first ever honourary chair of Democrats Abroad.[1]
Democrats Abroad sends a delegation to the Democratic National Convention every four years and has done so since 1976.

Presidential election of 2004

Democrats Abroad chose its delegates to the Democratic National Convention via the caucus system, similar to the famous Iowa caucuses. Caucuses are different from primaries. In the latter, people show up, vote, and go home. In a caucus, different areas or rooms are available for each candidate so that his or her supporters can gather and discuss their candidate's strengths and weaknesses. Caucusgoers who are unsure of their choice can move from room to room to hear about multiple candidates. Straw polls may be taken during the process. Eventually, all the caucusgoers meet in a plenary session and a representatives from each room gives a short presentation on why his or her candidate should be the Democratic nominee. Then a vote is taken. If some candidates' support is below a certain threshold, that candidate is eliminated and everyone is given the opportunity to switch support. Then a final vote is taken and the number of delegates for each candidate is determined, proportional to his or her share of the vote. The final step consists of the actual election of the delegates pledged to each candidate. The caucus process leads to well-informed voters who have discussed the issues and greatly reduces the effect of television advertising.
Local caucuses were held February 6-9, 2004 and country caucuses February 20-23, 2004. At these caucuses delegates to the regional and world caucuses were elected according to the process discussed above.
The regional and world Democrats Abroad caucuses were held back-to-back in Edinburgh, Scotland, March 26-28. The city of Edinburgh was proud to host the event and demonstrated this by holding a reception for the delegates at which the mayor spoke and praised the delegates for their active participation in the democratic process.
At the caucuses, numerous politicians spoke, as well as Diana Kerry, the sister of the eventual nominee Sen. John Kerry.
22 delegates and two alternates went to the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston.

Current leadership (2007)

Democrats Abroad has eight officers. All of them are elected except the Communications Director, who is appointed. The officers are as follows:

★ Christine Schon Marques, International Chair

★ Toby Condliffe, International Vice Chair

★ Robert Checkoway, International Secretary

★ Stanley Grossman, International Treasurer

★ Joseph Smallhoover, International Counsel

★ Meredith Gowan LeGoff, Vice Chair for the Europe, the Middle East and Africa Region

★ Gary Suwannarat, Vice Chair for the Asia-Pacific Region

★ Leo Minaya Perez, Vice Chair for the Americas Region

 
 

Democrats Abroad is represented on the Democratic National Committee by eight members. The International Chair and Vice Chair are ex-officio members of the DNC. Three others were elected at the regional caucuses in 2004 and three more were elected at the world DA caucus in 2004. These eight DNC members are:

★ Christine Schon Marques (ex officio)

★ Toby Condliffe (ex officio)

★ Robert Bell

★ Connie Borde

★ Liv Gibbons

★ Leo Perez Minaya

★ Theresa Morelli

★ Brent O'Leary
Various country committees of Democrats Abroad have local caucuses representing groups such as Young Democrats, minorities, women, and the GLBT community.

Voting from abroad

One of the prime functions of Democrats Abroad is to assist U.S. citizens abroad in voter registration. To this end, it has created a Website VoteFromAbroad.org which overseas Americans, Democrats, Republicans, and others can use to register to vote. Since Presidents and members of Congress are elected by state, Americans abroad vote in the state they most recently lived in, each of which has its own registration and voting procedures. This Website also has a Spanish language version VoteFromAbroad.org to reach out to Spanish speaking voters.
This Website asks the voter which state he or she last lived in and then starts a wizard specific to the voter's state that asks for the information necessary to comply with the election laws of that state. After all the information has been supplied, a PDF is created, which the voter can then print, sign, and mail to the address provided. Currently only Arizona ^[1] (and soon Washington ^[2]) offer online voter registration.
Several weeks before the election, the Board of Elections or County Registrar (various names are used in different states) sends the voter an absentee ballot which the voter then fills out and sends back in order to cast his or her vote.

Activities

In addition to helping Americans living overseas to register to vote, Democrats Abroad engages in many other activities, mostly on a per country or per locality basis. Among other things, Democrats Abroad:

★ Provides help where there are problems with absentee ballots

★ Organizes lectures, debates, and other events on political topics, often with guest speakers

★ Strengthens contact between American ambassadors and consuls and overseas Americans

★ Lobbies Congress on expatriate issues (e.g. citizenship for children born abroad etc.)

★ Represents Americans abroad in the Democratic National Committee

★ Raises funds for the Democratic Party

★ Runs a Website containing news for Americans abroad, including Letter from Washington and Wednesday Wire

See also

★ Republicans Abroad

Footnotes

1. EZ Voter Registration: Arizona's online voter registration system
2. Both houses OK online voter registration, The Seattle Times April 10, 2007

External links

★ Democrats Abroad website ★ Overseas Voter Registration website ★ Young Democrats Abroad ★ Armenia ★ Australia ★ Austria ★ Belgium ★ Bosnia-Herzegovina ★ Brazil ★ Canada ★ Cambodia ★ Costa Rica ★ Cyprus ★ Czech Republic ★ Finland ★ France ★ Germany ★ Greece ★ Guatemala ★ Hong Kong ★ Hungary ★ Indonesia

★ Ireland ★ Israel ★ Italy ★ Japan ★ Luxembourg ★ Mexico ★ Netherlands ★ New Zealand ★ Norway ★ Philippines ★ Poland ★ Portugal ★ Russia ★ Singapore ★ South Africa ★ South Korea ★ Spain ★ Sweden ★ Switzerland ★ Taiwan ★ Thailand ★ United Kingdom

'Media'

★ "Campaigns Look Overseas For Votes." Associated Press: May 17, 2004

★ Campbell, Blake. "Democrats gathering 'to put US back on track'." ''The Standard'': February 9, 2004.

★ Cover-Messenger, Jonathan. "The other caucus: Democrats Abroad." Democratic Underground: February 6, 2004.

★ Cox, Christopher. "Some Dems go extra miles to beat Bush." ''Boston Herald'': July 29, 2004.

★ Higham, Will. "Don't get angry, get even." ''Progress'': January/February 2004.

★ LaBelle, G.G. "Americans around world play role in DNC." Associated Press: July 27, 2004.

★ Nelson, Fraser. "Democratic battle coming to Scotland." ''The Scotsman'': February 11, 2004.
'Informational'

★ Associated Press profile of 2004 delegates. Includes names and country of residence.