Every month, Democrats Abroad France brings you news, events, and information in a concise format.

In this edition:    

• Black History Month
• Register to Vote NOW!
• Votefromabroad.org vs a Traditional Absentee Ballot
• Two Special Paris Events!
• Super Tuesday Week/Global Presidential Primary
• Volunteer With Us!
• Phonebanking Together
• Announcements: Passports and Cross-Border Marathon
• Facts: Why Your Dollars Make the Difference

Black History Month

February is Black History Month, a time to remember the contributions Black Americans have made to our country and to honor the African-American history of struggle and liberation. 

The National Park Service is expanding its African-American history sites, and the Biden-Harris administration has been taking strong actions to overcome historical racial injustices such as housing discrimination, the racial wealth gap, racist highway planning decisions, and environmental injustice in disadvantaged communities. Read more about this in our monthly News that Didn’t Make Headlines blog, this month on Addressing Racial Injustice. 

DA France has recently formed our Black Caucus! If you’d like to join, please write us. All are welcome.

Register to Vote NOW!

Our votes from abroad are consistently the margin of victory in races up and down the ballot (see above ), so no one can sit this one out—the stakes are too high. With so many Republican voter suppression efforts underway already, every vote will be needed!

• VoteFromAbroad.org makes it easy to register and request your ballot.
• Tell American family and friends living abroad to do the same: Share this message!
• Need help registering or requesting your ballot? Call us at 07 555-FRDEM (07 55 53 73 36) or email us at [email protected]. You can also use the chat bubble at VoteFromAbroad.org.

VoteFromAbroad.org vs. a Traditional Absentee Ballot:

Why use VoteFromAbroad.org to request your ballot rather than just receive a normal absentee ballot from your local elections officer in your home state?

When you fill out a Federal Post Card Application (FPCA) form to request your ballot, which you can do at VoteFromAbroad.org or at fvap.gov, your ballot is federally protected, and you receive it more easily and earlier than state absentee ballots. The result? Return rates go up, and more ballots are successfully counted. In 2018, ballots requested using the FPCA had a 65% rate of return vs 37% with state absentee ballots. Additionally, if GOP officials in your state engage in voter suppression, like voter roll purges, your ballot is federally protected—it’s not if you just use a regular absentee ballot. Filling out the FPCA form means you are registering as a UOCAVA (Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act) voter, or a voter living abroad. For more information, go here or see this US Department of Justice web page.

Two Special Paris Events

Join us on Saturday, February 10th at 10am for coffee and discussion on filing US taxes from France and other financial topics. Our special guest speaker is Rebecca Lammers, Chair of Democrats Abroad Taxation Task Forceand International Member of the Taxpayer Advocacy Panel. Rebecca will also discuss DA's work to reform US tax and financial account reporting laws for expats. More information and registration is here.

On Thursday, February 15th at 7pm, join us in person or via Zoom for a cocktail-dinatoire with Lieutenant Colonel David Ashcraft, liaison officer for the US Army’s Training and Doctrine Command to the French Army at the Ecole Militaire in Paris. He will speak with us about the role and experiences of a Foreign Area Officer (FAO) of the US Army and Joint Level of Staff. More information and registration is here.

Super Tuesday Week/Global Presidential Primary

To vote in the Presidential Primary, you can either vote using your home state’s primary ballot or in Democrats Abroad’s Global Presidential Primary (but not both). On Super Tuesday, March 5th, and on Saturday March 9th, in Paris, DA France will operate official Voting Centers for the Presidential Primary. Some other chapters around France will also hold informal voting assistance events during Super Tuesday Week. You may also vote by email; electronic voting will begin February 13th. Stay tuned for more on this coming soon.

We'll need all hands on deck as we work to Get Out The Vote among Americans in France. You can get involved with your local DA chapter and help with in-person voting assistance events, join our phonebanking team, or get trained in voter assistance and respond to voters’ help requests via email or in online Zoom sessions. All trainings for helping voters are here. We’re also looking for volunteers with specific skills such as event planning, IT/database, and more. Fill out this form to sign up to volunteer. Thank you for getting involved!

We'll be making phone calls to our members to remind them to request their ballots, so we're building our phonebanking team. Phonebanking is easy, free, flexible, and a good way to make an impact in 2024. All phonebanking sessions and more are here on our Events page.

If you’re interested in joining our phonebanking team, please fill out this form, and we’ll contact you with more information.

Note from the US Embassy in France: Get your passports renewed early this year. As you know, in July and August, Paris will host the Olympics, and US Consulate services will be stretched. If your passport is expiring soon, please send it in early (this spring) to be renewed.  

Run for Democracy! If you live in the Alsace/Mulhouse area and like to run,join us for a cross-border marathon in May, organized by Democrats Abroad Switzerland.

Why will a donation to DA France have a massive impact in 2024?

FACT: The number of Americans moving to France has tripled since 2020, many in the last 12 months. Many of them are likely Democrats, who will need help figuring out how to vote from abroad.

FACT: In 2020, we grew the abroad vote by 73% over 2016. The result? Our votes tipped the scales in Georgia and Arizona for President Biden and for Senate Democrats.

FACT: In 2020, the margin of victory was under 5% in 42 Congressional races.

FACT: In 2022, Democrats needed 5 more seats to control the House—and lost 6 races by less than 1%.

We have untapped potential that's an enormous opportunity—the key to big wins in 2024—but ONLY if we find Americans here in France and help them vote. To do this, we'll need resources. We’ll spend funds on advertising, textbanking, printed materials like mailers, and outreach in areas where we’re not yet present.

The data is clear: A gift to Democrats Abroad France is the best investment in D victories across the US, in races up and down the ballot.

To donate to DA France, please click here. To donate 50% to DA France and 50% to Democrats Abroad (the global organization that pays for our website, phonebanking, and many operational costs), please click here. Please consider giving as a monthly sustaining donor: These investments, big or small, help us immensely as they allow us to budget for the rest of the year. 

We’re very grateful for your donation! 

Join Us In Person and Online!

Don't forget to check out our upcoming events HERE.

Each Monday on social media, we highlight other DA events that happen online and work for our timezone. Facebook :: Instagram :: Twitter