Since our founding in 1964, Democrats Abroad has been very active on
the national and international scene. Among its achievements, Democrats
Abroad has been instrumental in:

• Securing voting rights for US citizens abroad through the Overseas Citizens Voting Rights Act of 1975.
• Obtaining passage of the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act in 1986.
• Making
  sure every vote counts and is counted; furthering voting reform through
  the Emergency Committee to Reform Overseas Voting, created in November
  2000 by Democrats Abroad. The Emergency Committee successfully lobbied
  Congress for improvements in the Help America Vote Act.
• Initiating
  the Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot, which allows voters to cast
  ballots when the absentee ballots have not arrived in time from their
  home states.
• Defending the rights of Americans living and working abroad by preventing the loss of their U.S. citizenship.
• Ensuring easier transmission of American citizenship to children born abroad.
• Fighting for Social Security and Medicare coverage for eligible Americans abroad.
• Fighting
  to avoid double taxation of Americans abroad by defending the foreign
  earned income tax exclusion (Section 911) and obtaining fairer
  treatment of U.S. taxpayers residing abroad.
• Creating
  firsthand contact with presidential candidates through conference calls
  with Democrats Abroad members living in Europe, the Americas and Asia.
• Helping to register voters by the thousand during the first worldwide Overseas Voter Weekend in 2004.
• Ensuring
  that voting forms were reprinted by the Federal Voting Assistance
  Program to meet the increased demand during the 2004 presidential
  election.
• Working to maximize the overseas vote; the
  result was a dramatic increase in overseas voter participation,
  especially thanks to the creation of www.overseasvote2004.com,
  www.overseasvote.com, and www.tellanamericantovote.com in 2004.
• Successfully
  removing restrictions on access to the Federal Voting Assistance
  Program's website, www.fvap.gov, by overseas Internet providers.
• Tracking
  and refuting illegal voting requirements (such as the LA County
  imposition in 2004 of an ID requirement for overseas voters).
• Ensuring
  that accurate and helpful information is available to Voting Assistance
  Officers and embassies and consulates through a network of DPCA
  Consular Liaisons.
• Creating effective lines of
  communication with senior election offices in each of the fifty states
  and the District of Columbia through a team of 51 volunteers, and
  developing a library of states and issues.

Democrats Abroad has:

• Launched (in 2006) its
  on-line voter registration engine www.VoteFromAbroad.org. It allows the
  voter to download a write-in ballot with the voter's information
  included so that it is merely a matter of voting, signing and mailing,
  when the official state ballot doesn't arrive in time. Available in
  both English and Spanish.
• Initiated three
  resolutions adopted by the Democratic National Committee, concerning
  thirty years of overseas voting (April 2006), opposing the use of
  torture (August 2006) and restoring the writ of habeas corpus (February
  2007).
• Adopted resolutions on Troop Buildup in
  Iraq, a Proactive Policy on the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process, on
  Climate Change, and on resolution military and veterans' health care.
  Our resolutions are available at
  http://www.democratsabroad.org....
• Participated in the Overseas Americans door knock during the week of
  June 18th, 2007, to highlight the Americans Abroad Caucus, co-chaired
  by Carolyn Maloney (D-NY). Representatives Henry Waxman and Patrick
  Murphy joined the caucus during the door knock.
• Raises at meetings of the Association of State Democratic Chairs
  Election Reform Committee issues facing military and overseas voters
  today, and recommends solutions.