Minutes of Democrats Abroad Guatemala
Executive Committee meeting on Thursday, December 16, 2019 at 12:00 noon via Skype
Members in Attendance: John Chudy, Chair; Dave Evans, Member at Large and Treasurer(acting); Kee Adams Evans, Events Coordinator
Per our bylaws (paragraph 19.3), all meetings are open to all members.
Called to order at 12:03pm
Approval of Agenda and Minutes: Minutes from November meeting and December agenda were approved with corrections to debate events.
Treasurer’s report: Net worth as of December 16, 2019 is Q4709. We discussed finances for 2020 and the need for funds to help our Get Out The Vote efforts. Dave suggested we organize a direct email fund raising campaign, and Kee mentioned we might again adopt the approach we used in 2018 when we employed the online tool RaiseThe Money, through which DAGT ran a direct-email fund raising campaign. This will be a topic for our January Excom meeting.
Chair’s Report: The Americas Region lost a colleague, Patrick Werner, founder and chair of Democrats Abroad Nicaragua, on November 30th due to a heart attack, see more at: https://www.democratsabroad.org/news.
Americas Region points of interest include: (1) members are encouraged to endorse candidate petitions to be on DA’s ballot for the Global Presidential Primary (GPP) - any member can sign the petitions at https://www.democratsabroad.org/candidate_petitions by the January 6th deadline, (2) Establish GPP voting centers and report them to International Chair by December 31. DAGT will hold only one in-person voting center in Antigua, and will encourage Remote Voting for members who cannot vote in-person, and host remote voting assist events. (3) Membership Verification to be completed by January 31, 2020, See current status below *(4) Certified DA WebEx Host training – useful for DAGT so we can use WebEx for Excom meetings instead of Skype. https://wiki.democratsabroad.org/display/WebEx/Host+Certification+Sign-Up+Form, Trainings in January and February (see note below). We will try to use WebEx for our Excom meetings beginning in February or March. (5) The region will revive the use of CC Field Plans. We will do one for 2020. (6) Guidelines for GPP will be updated and released soon.
Events for 2019: Film Series Update: there was no movie night in December. Kee suggested some American classic films for 2020 including Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, To Kill a Mockingbird, Grapes of Wrath, and the Manchurian Candidate (original). They have been ordered to be hand-carried back to Guatemala.
The next Democratic debate takes place December 19th at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. Only seven candidates, the fewest of the debates held so far, will be on the stage. After that, January 14 will be the last debate before the February 3rd Iowa Caucuses. February’s debate will be Feb 7, just four days before New Hampshire voting on the 11th. No decision was taken on a debate watch party for any of these debates.
The Oliver Litondo visit has been tabled.
2020 voter registration and GOTV activities will begin with the Global Presidential Primary (GPP). Kee has confirmed Café Condessa as the site for DAGT’s in-person voting station on March 3, 2020. DAGT will have only one in-person voting center and it will be open for the one day only, March 3rd. Kee will begin recruiting volunteers to help with the in-person voting after January 1st. Remote voting online will be available for DAGT members unable to attend the in-person voting. Kee will reach out to volunteers to help with Remote Voting Assistance centers (Internet cafes or other public places with connectivity where remote voters can get help) in January. Promoting the GPP by email, Facebook, Website, and other media will begin in January. Kee and Scotney will coordinate the messaging. The DPCA Communications and GOTV committees have begun producing materials. Voter registration/FPCA events will begin in mid-March. FVAP Voter Assistance Guide for 2020-2022 will be ready in January and four hard copies will be mailed via CANIZ to Antigua.
The DAGT Excom will meet next on January 20th, at 12 noon, at El Sitio’s Café Teatro and via Skype only.
Travel Notes: Mary Lou will be in and out. Hyung will be away December 17 to January 7, 2020.
Adjourned: 12:50 pm.
* Membership 2019-11-01 (Americas)
|
Membership Country |
Grand Total |
Expire 2019 a/o Dec-31 |
Verified Membership Count |
Percent Verified |
|
COUNTRY DETAILS |
|
|||
|
Guatemala |
498 |
3 |
495 |
99.40 |
|
Panama |
414 |
4 |
410 |
99.03 |
|
Ecuador |
951 |
15 |
936 |
98.42 |
|
Canada |
17734 |
755 |
16979 |
95.74 |
|
Costa Rica |
1115 |
77 |
1038 |
93.09 |
|
Mexico |
7293 |
539 |
6754 |
92.61 |
|
Chile |
571 |
102 |
469 |
82.14 |
|
Peru |
408 |
81 |
327 |
80.15 |
|
Haiti |
130 |
26 |
104 |
80.00 |
|
Colombia |
664 |
185 |
479 |
72.14 |
|
Nicaragua |
118 |
33 |
85 |
72.03 |
|
Argentina |
626 |
260 |
366 |
58.47 |
|
Out of Compliance |
|
|
|
|
|
Brazil |
901 |
376 |
525 |
58.27 |
|
Dominican Republic |
4673 |
260 |
4413 |
94.44 |