| Front Starting on the left: Candice Kerstan - Munich, Chesney Severance - Hamburg, Ann Hesse - Stuttgart, Evie Walls - Wiesbaden/Mainz, Emily Lines - Berlin, Nancy Shimat - Heidelberg, and Shari Temple - Munich |
| Back: Amanda Mohar - Heidelberg, Powen Shiah - Berlin, Quaide Williams - Cologne, Kelsey McLendon- Stuttgart, Katie Solon - Munich, Diago Garcia - Berlin, and Patrick Oberlaender - Munich |
Between May 17-19, leaders and members of Democrats Abroad came together in Washington, D.C. for the annual DPCA Global Meeting (Democratic Party Committee Abroad). Some of the chapters represented included Canada, Mexico, Columbia, Haiti, the United Arab Emirates, China, New Zealand, and many of the European chapters. Germany had one of the largest country committee presences with 16 members in attendance. In addition to all of the people in the room, there were also a large number of participants online, contributing via WebEx.
Like our Germany Annual General Meeting (AGM), the global meeting includes presentations by the outgoing international leadership team, leaders of our global caucuses, and various committees, like Get Out To Vote (GOTV), IT, and the One Person One Vote Special Purpose Committee, showcasing all of their work over the past year. All of the presentations are available online and can be viewed here.
As this was an odd-numbered year, one of the main objectives of this annual meeting was to elect the new international leadership. This meant the positions of International Chair, Vice Chair, Treasurer, Secretary, and Legal Counsel had to be filled. Each regional committee also was tasked to elect a new Regional Vice Chair. Nominations for these positions were accepted until March 27. Elections were held on Saturday, May 18. Julia Bryan (Czech Republic) was re-elected to be International Chair of Democrats Abroad for another two years. The following were also re-elected: Alex Montgomery (Hong Kong) as Vice Chair, Lissette Wright (Canada) as Treasurer, and Jeffrey Cheng (Sweden) as Secretary. Joe Smallhoover (France) was newly elected to be Legal Counsel. Will Bakker (Luxembourg) was re-elected to serve as the Regional Vice Chair of Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) region. A full list of the newly elected International Executive Committee can be found here.
| From left to right: Joe Smallhoover - France, Lissette Wright - Canada, Alex Montgomery - Hong Kong, Julia Bryan - Czech Republic, and Jeffrey Cheng - Sweden |
The other important task at hand was to debate and vote upon changes to the DA Charter (bylaws amendments) and proposed resolutions. All members are welcome to submit proposed amendments and resolutions before the meeting. The bylaws committee also held public hearings throughout April to already begin the discussion about the proposed amendments. We were not able to vote on all of the proposed resolutions and bylaws amendments due to time restrictions and the lively debate surrounding several of the issues. However, some relevant resolutions that passed included DA supporting Medicare for All and agreeing that when planning events for DA in the US, the event venues will receive closer scrutiny in regards to their political donation history. We also decided to establish a committee that is responsible for maintaining, reviewing, and improving votefromabroad.org, which includes taking steps to improve its security. Regarding the bylaws amendments, some crucial amendments passed included the removal of term limits for DPCA voting representatives and clarification of the bylaws to allow full voting participation in DPCA meetings via electronic means.
The meeting wasn’t just all business, however! We had the chance to view video greetings from several of the Democratic Presidential nominees; Senator Cory Booker, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Senator Bernie Sanders, former Vice President Joe Biden, Andrew Yang, Senator Amy Klobuchar, and John Delaney. All the videos are now online. We had the pleasure to welcome two candidates - Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and Marianne Williamson - who spoke to us in person. Other guest speakers included DNC Secretary Jason Rae, Chair of the Association for State Democratic Committees Ken Martin, and progressive strategist Liz Jaff.
Following the three-day meeting, DA organized two days to spend door knocking on Capitol Hill. Various meetings were arranged with members of Congress and their staffs to discuss three major issues affecting American abroad. This included the need for residency-based taxation, the concern over the closure of US Citizen and Immigration Services (USCIS) offices abroad, and the provision in the recently-passed HR1 legislation that could require paper-based ballots, which could lead to more problems for overseas voters, particularly those living in countries with unreliable or non-existent postal systems. A total of 47 meetings were scheduled over the two days, and participants in the door knocks also took time to drop in on their representatives. This was an excellent opportunity for Democrats Abroad to make more members of Congress aware of some of the issues we face as Americans overseas and to promote our work.
While the door knocks were taking place, the #stopthebans protest in front of the Supreme Court was held to demonstrate against the recent anti-abortion legislation passed in Alabama, Georgia, and many other states. Several members also took part in this protest to show the support of DA in this fight for women’s healthcare.
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Overall, these five days in D.C. were productive and educational. Many of the members from Germany had never attended a DPCA meeting in the past, and we were all able to gain more insight into how Democrats Abroad operates on an international level and how other country committees function. We also learned more about the plans for 2020 and the preparations that we need to make to make our Global Presidential Primary a success. We enjoyed meeting the members from other countries and are already looking forward to coming together next year in Toronto!