March certainly is coming in like a lion this year. Democrats have flipped 39 Republican-held state legislative seats since January 2017.
This past weekend, members of Democrats Abroad Germany (DAG) met in Hamburg for this year’s Annual General Meeting (AGM). See pictures from the AGM. We started the weekend with a trip to the theater to see Neuland, a piece about how American women feel about life under Trump and which several members of DAG performed in. On Saturday, we got down to business by discussing our Get Out To Vote (GOTV) strategy, listening to presentations by all of our caucus leaders about their work this past year and what they have planned for 2018, and learning how to communicate with conservatives.
The most important part of the weekend was the vote on proposed resolutions to our bylaws, which resulted in lively discussions and hopefully an improved set of bylaws that will strengthen DAG. On Saturday evening, we welcomed Josh Handelman from the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC) who gave an interesting speech on the wins Democrats had this past year and what lies ahead this year for the midterm elections. Read more about the speech or watch the video. Our 2019 AGM will be in Heidelberg.
In an effort to be as effective as possible in our GOTV efforts, each chapter received a tablet, portable printer, and SIM card during the Executive Committee meeting on Sunday to allow them to help people request their absentee ballots on the spot. We want to simplify the ballot request process to ensure that ballots requested online at a GOTV event are not forgotten and never printed and sent to the local election offices. We hope this will improve the efficacy of our GOTV events and make the entire process quick and easy. If you would like to make a donation to support the DAG GOTV Digitization efforts, you can find more information here. You can always register to vote and request your ballot at www.votefromabroad.org
Save the date March 24th. Our chapters are planning March for Our Lives event and we will send another email in the next few weeks to let you know where marches are scheduled in the coming weeks. Democrats Abroad strongly supports common sense gun legislation. We deplore Congress' unwillingness to enact legislation that would protect the people of America.
Voting and Election Information
Upcoming Elections
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Tuesday |
March 6 |
Texas Primary |
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Tuesday |
March 13 |
Pennsylvania CD-18 Special Election |
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Tuesday |
March 20 |
Illinois Primary |
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Tuesday |
April 24 |
Arizona CD-8 Special Election |
What’s the most effective way to remind other DA members to register and vote? How can you help – for a few minutes or hours, over the next weeks – from your home or wherever? How can we exponentially increase turnout in the midterm primaries and general election? Phone Banking!
Help us call our own members. Sign up and start calling.
We make the calls from an online computer or tablet. No cost to you or the caller! We call only our members, Democrats abroad who want to hear from us/you, but who likely won’t request their ballot on time if they don’t hear from us.
At this link, you’ll get the info you need, the wee bit of training, a script to follow, and then can start making calls. You can call from wherever. You can call whenever convenient for you, because somewhere in the DA world it’s an appropriate time to call voters. (The DA web-tool will only list people to be called who are in a time zone where it would be a good time to call.)
You can call a few minutes or hours a day or week. Whatever works for you!
Whatever you can do helps DA and helps Democrats in the US win. Results over the past few elections have shown that phone banking our members is the most effective way to get them to request their ballot or register to vote on time, and to send the voted ballot in! Start calling today!
If you have any questions or comments, contact Katie Solon or Beverly Seebach or contact the DA global phonebanking team.
March’s Highlighted Events
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Event |
Date and Time |
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Round Table Discussion with Stuttgart Fulbright Alumni Association |
Friday, March 2, 12pm - 2pm |
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Friday, March 2, 7pm - 9:30pm |
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Friday, March 2, 7pm - 9pm |
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Resistance Through Art - Guided Tour at the Pinakothek der Moderne (Munich) |
Sunday, March 4, 2pm - 3pm |
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March Meeting - Empowering Women in Politics & Policy (Berlin) |
Tuesday, March 6, 7:30pm - 9:30pm |
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Sachsen Women's Caucus Kickoff: International Women's Day Book Club (Dresden) |
Wednesday, March 7, 5pm - 7pm |
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Wednesday, March 7, 7pm - 9:30pm |
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Wednesday, March 7, 8pm - 10pm |
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Women’s Writes: An International Women’s Day #PressforProgress Event |
Thursday, March 8, 6pm - 8:30pm |
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Thursday, March 8, 7pm - 10pm |
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Sunday, March 11, 12pm - 3pm |
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Thursday, March 15, 5:30pm - 8:30pm |
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Thursday, March 15, 6:30pm - 9:30pm |
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Thursday, March 15, 7pm - 9pm |
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Friday, March 16, 7pm - 10pm |
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Saturday, March 17, 2pm - 4pm |
Caucus Update
We are pleased to announce our Democrats Abroad Germany Veterans and Military Families Caucus was approved on 19 February 2018. To join the Veterans and Military Families Caucus, please contact Kirk Samson at [email protected]. Read their charter.
Democrats all over the world took part in the 2018 Women’s March. Watch the Global Women’s Caucus compilation video.
March is Women’s History Month. Check out the Women’s Caucus and Black Caucus for a celebration of women's contributions to history, culture and society.
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Caucus |
POC |
Email address |
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Angela Fobbs |
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Ann Hesse |
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Ana Blackstad |
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Kenton Barnes |
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John Grosser (Global) Chris Sauca (Berlin) |
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DAG Veterans and Military Families Caucus (VFMC) |
Michael Lee and Kirk Samson |
News and Noteworthy
Are you a U.S. government employee, contractor, or service member? Take a look at our Hatch Act Refresher. There are plenty of political activities that federal employees can still take part in.
Running for Democracy! On April 22, Democrats Abroad Germany is running in the SAS Halbmarathon der TSG 78 Heidelberg (21,1km) and the 3.1K run. We have two teams: 4 people running the Half-marathon, and 6 running 3.1 K. If you would like to sponsor a runner or team you can pledge your support here: https://goo.gl/forms/kzhVlxIKoOMzRWV03 All funds raised go to our Get out the Vote efforts. We will also be putting together a cheering section for the event more to come next month.
If you live in an area where it’s difficult to get to your chapter meetings, but would like to get together to discuss issues with like-minded Americans, consider starting a precinct. Precincts operates under the Chapter umbrella in locations which have a large enough collection of Americans to commit to regular events like pub crawls, book clubs, meetings or marches. Contact your Chapter Chair or the Ex-Com for more information: Teresa Gerry, [email protected]
Save the Date: 2018 Democrats Abroad Global Meeting in Tokyo, Japan, Friday, May 25- Sunday, May 27, 2018.
Watch former Governor Howard Dean speaking at the Democrats Abroad EMEA Regional Meeting in Madrid, Spain. https://www.facebook.com/DAItaly/videos/1896172340452882/
Join us on social media! Follow Democrats Abroad Germany on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram and invite your friends to follow us too!
Thanks for reading. These are trying times but change is coming. Hang in there.