There are 96 days until the midterm elections but there’s even less time until the cutoff date for overseas voters to request their ballots. If you have not registered to vote/requested your ballot, now is the time. Go to Votefromabroad.org and do it today! If you are already registered, it doesn't hurt to check your registration at https://iwillvote.com/. This election is extremely important, don’t get disenfranchised by Republican tricks. Also, if your state's primary has already occurred and you didn’t receive a ballot for that election, you might not be registered.

Need information on the candidates running in your state's elections?  You can use Ballotpedia’s Sample Ballot Lookup Tool. All you need is your voting address and you can find out who’s running in the various elections. There are links to the candidates' website’s, information on ballot measures and more. If your state has not had it’s primary elections yet, you can get information on primary candidates there too.

Want to help make the blue wave happen? Here are four things you can do in your home:

1. Remind your Democratic-leaning friends abroad and in America to vote in the midterm elections.
2. Share the above meme on your social networks. If you belong to any online groups, share the meme with them too. In this election, everyone counts. 
3. Ask your stateside Alma Mater to help study abroad students Vote From Abroad. It’s easy to do and you can find all the information you need to do it here.
4. Sign up for Phone banking and do it. The best way to get people to vote is to call them and remind them to vote. It is not too late, we still have a few hundred calls to make to reach all DA Germany members! You can choose from the “DA Germany Non-Berlin” or the “DA Germany-Berlin” campaign in the DA CallHub and talk directly to other DA members reminding them, not only to register to vote and request their ballot but to join the local chapter or precinct next meeting and events.

• To log in to your Callhub account, go to https://callhub.io and click on "login" in the upper right corner. When you get to the next screen, enter your Username (example: DE-Beverly-Seebach) and your password. Note: You must use Google Chrome to phone bank.
  
• If you don't remember your password, just click on "forgot" in the corner of the password box and we'll email instructions how to set up a new password.

* * * * *

And please be sure to review the Updated Phone banking Training Materials for a full explanation of recent updates to the Phone banking system:

UPDATED GOTV Phone banking Introduction (June 2018).  Please review all, but especially new slides 17, 18 and 21-25

UPDATED 2018 Phone banking Do's and Don'ts (June 2018)

If you have any questions please contact the international team at [email protected] or Beverly at [email protected]  or Katie at [email protected]

August - Upcoming Primary Elections

Highlighted Events 

Americans from many parts of Germany came together to march in the Cologne CSD parade on Sunday, July 8th. We hope you'll march with us next year for the 20th anniversary of Christopher Street Day and the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots.

As LGBT Pride season closes out, DA Germany will be at the Christopher Street Day events in Mannheim and Hamburg. Please come march with us at the Christopher Street Day Parade in Mannheim on August 11th at 2 pm. If you are interested in joining the march contact Nancy Schimkat at [email protected]. It should be a fun event for everyone. Our Hamburg chapter will have a booth at the Hamburg Christopher Street Day Fest from 3-5 August. If you are interested in helping out the booth contact Marc Castagnera at [email protected]

Now is the time to make plans for our fall events. Germany’s Women Caucus is hosting a workshop in Berlin on September 22, 2018. The theme of the event is “Revisit, Refocus, Revitalize, Re-empower.” Berlin Home-stays are available. Learn more about the event and RSVP today.

Get your tickets for our 10th Annual Oktoberfest Extravaganza on Sunday, October 7th. Tickets include a reserved seat in the “Gallerie”, a half roasted chicken (vegetarian options are available), 2 liters of Spaten beer (there are other beverage options, too), and a 10-euro coupon for other purchases. You don't have to drink beer or wear traditional clothing to attend. This is a fun event and a great opportunity to spend time with 120 interesting Democrats from all over the world. We hope you will join us! RSVP today!

There are events of all types this month; we have political meetings, social get together's, phone banking parties, get out the vote events and much more. Check our events page and find an event near you. 

We’re active on social media. Are you? Follow Democrats Abroad Germany on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!

Caucus Corner

Good News! Thorin Engeseth is now the leader of our Germany Hispanic Caucus. Learn more about Thorin.  You can join a caucus or contact any of our caucus leaders using the information below.

News and Noteworthy

We have a new chapter in Münster/Osnabrück. What started as a precinct is now one of our newest chapters. The chapter chair is Matt LeMieux. Learn more about Matt and what the chapter is doing.

The New York Times put together an extremely detailed map of 2016 presidential election results. It’s worth taking a look at for several reasons. The map goes down to the county level so you can see how the two main parties performed. In many cases, Hillary lost by relatively few votes. The map shows how every vote does count. If someone believes their votes don’t count this map says otherwise. Even in counties that Trump won, many weren’t won by much. There is hope that we can change the composition of the House and Senate in 2018 and win the presidency in 2020. As many people as possible need to vote and we can make a change.

Book Recommendations - Let me recommend three really important books, that will help you understand our current political situation.

The Road to Unfreedom: Russia, Europe, America by Timothy Snyder

The Plot to Destroy Democracy: How Putin and His Spies Are Undermining America and Dismantling the West by Malcolm Nance

The Myth of Race: The Troubling Persistence of an Unscientific Idea by Robert Wald Sussman      

The first two books cover the Russian interference in our election in 2016 and were published in April and June 2018 respectively so the information is current.  The first book is from the perspective of a historian and the second is from the perspective of a former intelligence officer, both come to similar conclusions. Read these books to get a clear perspective into the state of our society and the clear and present danger that the Putin regime poses to the USA and Europe.  The third book was written by an anthropologist. It is a fascinating and alarming account of the racial theories that are still with us today, affecting policies on immigration, education, health care, and the social safety net. It's well written and tremendously informative. Spoiler Alert: Racists are working really hard to keep us from having a decent society. If you decide to read any of this books, I recommend listening to the audio-book version. Audio-books are a great way to digest complex information and you can listen while you do other things.

With only 96 days until the election, DA Germany actively seeking as many Americans as possible to persuade them to vote. Advertising, making calls, paying local registration fees, and buying postage all require money. Please consider becoming a DAG Sustaining Member. DAG is a member-funded, 100% volunteer organization. With the 2018 midterms approaching, we are appreciative of all the financial support we receive. In 2016, we calculated that each euro spent resulted in 3 new members/voters, and in this year's midterms, every vote counts! Please consider making a donation to us, whether one time, monthly or quarterly. 

Account name: Democrats Abroad Germany

IBAN: DE04 5405 0220 0140 2702 99

BIC: MALADE51KLK

To make it a recurring donation, you can set up a Dauerauftrag. Let us know if you need assistance with this process — we’re glad to help! Thank you in advance for your support.

One last thing, here is a great video that has nothing to do with politics but everything to do with joy. Remember today is a gift. Enjoy!

Thanks for Reading.