The 2021 Tokai Nomination and Election Committee (NEC) is pleased to announce the provisional results of the 2021 Tokai Chapter Election. Votes were counted on June 27th, and recorded by the NEC as follows:

Table of contents: 

1. Online Town hall event on June 24th at 8pm
2. Online Action Meeting - MONTHLY ON 4TH THURSDAY 8:00-9:30
3. Online Speakeasy - MONTHLY ON 2nd THURSDAY 7:00~9:30
4. Call for volunteers to join DA Japan’s slack
5. Vision for DAJ & Greetings from Chair Sarajean Rossitto

Fellow citizens and friends of democracy,

Thank you so much for your hard work in maintaining American democracy these last two years. As we know in Asia Pacific, this is not something to be taken for granted.

Moving forward, I ask you to do something I feel very passionately about, but did not spend nearly enough time articulating during my term - and that is to support the tools of democracy. I encourage you to explore decentralized solutions for communication. I encourage you to embrace encryption and your civil liberties wherever possible. The success of democracy is not a particular platform or data point, the success of democracy is when we can have conversations and listen to each other in ways that have not been manipulated by other actors seeking money or power.

In our increasingly digital world, we must always be conscious of where and how we choose to organize. Is the platform we're organizing on harvesting data? Is it sorting our conversations? Is it open source? Where is its funding coming from? How does it manipulate our messaging? These are all important questions we must always consider and our Executive Committee considered often. I encourage all future political volunteers of any sort to do the same. Words are strong, but where, how, and when you say them will all have a great impact on their meaning.

Most importantly, never forget to cultivate the most important tool you have - your political imagination. Without the ability to dream and imagine a future we want to live in, we will never be able to articulate the societal goals and what good government can be to our constituents, fellow citizens, family, and friends. Without the ability to colorfully present that future, we will always fail to draw the interest of any particular person or group. Few will be motivated to save the world from Climate Change. Almost everyone will be motivated to breathe cleaner air every morning.  

For our lives to improve, we must keep our minds open to what is possible. Today, the words of any single person can be more influential than a news network, and money is being minted and valued by people. Let us look towards expanding the power we have as people. Let us let go of pragmatic assumptions, and cultivate groups around messages of change that we want to see.

I truly thank you all for your support and friendship. Please continue to support democracy, support democratic movements, and the tools of democracy that make those happen. I look forward to seeing what we, the people, can all create together.

Democracy Lives in Transparency,
John Andrew Baumlin Jr.
National Chair & Asia Pacific 2020 Delegate for Bernie Sanders
Democrats Abroad Japan

Voting for the 2021 DAJ Tokai Chapter Election is now open! Send in your ballot by June 26th!

Please download the following document for everything you need in order to vote, including instructions for casting your ballot, the statements from the candidates, and your empty ballot: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1X1GM92E2EnA5zReClXbS10FQ6Rh2BUQq/view?usp=sharing

Information will also be listed below:

Voting Instructions

Please fill out the attached ballot and vote your preference for each of the officer positions. Indicate your choice by marking the box before the name of your chosen candidate for office. Each candidate listed has confirmed their interest in each position. Voting for a write-in candidate is allowed, but that candidate must meet the eligibility requirements for that position and accept said position within 30 days of receiving a plurality of votes after the election. You must both print your name and sign the bottom of the ballot. Unsigned ballots are considered to be invalid under the Democratic National Committee (DNC) bylaws.

You can submit your ballot in one of two ways in this election:

• Fill out the ballot electronically and attach it in an e-mail to [email protected]
• Print the ballot, fill it out, scan or take a photo, and attach it in an e-mail to [email protected]

Voting closes on June 26^th at 11:59pm JST. All ballots must be received by this time. As a reminder, in order to vote in this election, you must be an American citizen, 18 years of age or older, a member of Democrats Abroad Japan, and a resident of the Tokai region (Aichi, Gifu, and Mie Prefectures) of Japan.

Ballot Tallying

After being received, the NEC will count the ballots and make a full report to the DAJ Tokai membership by June 30^th, 2021. The ballots will be tallied by the NEC on Sunday June 27^th at 3pm JST online via WebEx. Anyone in our membership may attend as a neutral observer to the process.

WebEx Link: https://democratsabroad.webex.com/webappng/sites/democratsabroad/meeting/info/cdd2a927472108181f47b00fea3c76d2
Password: dems

If you have any questions concerning the ballot process or procedures, please contact the NEC at [email protected]

Sincerely,
Paul Smith, Jason Morgan, and Anna Costello
DAJ 2021 Tokai Nomination and Election Committee

The 2021 Nomination and Election Committee (NEC) is pleased to announce the results of the 2021 National Election. Votes were counted on May 29th, and recorded by the NEC as follows:

Announcement of 2021 Democrats Abroad Japan Tokai Election

The 2021 Nomination and Election Committee (NEC) of Democrats Abroad Japan (DAJ) Tokai Chapter is proud to call upon our membership to submit their nominations for the 2021 DAJ Tokai Chapter Election. The call for nominations is for the following positions:

• Tokai Chapter Officer positions
  • Chair (Volunteer Lead, Raises New Leaders)
  • Vice-Chair (Serves as Chair in their absence; Supports the Team)
  • Secretary (Manages/maintains membership database; Technical and Precise)
  • Treasurer (Manages the Tokai finances, maintains transparency and records) 

The Nomination and Election Committee (NEC) of Democrats Abroad Japan (DAJ) would like to open voting for the 2021 National Election from now (April 18th) until May 28th at 11:59pm!

Please download the following document for everything you need in order to vote, including instructions for casting your ballot, the statements from the candidates, and your empty ballot: http://drive.google.com/file/d/1AktdH-H6RkSxFiIJS-0Db6pMn0PM7a90/view?usp=sharing

PLEASE NOTE: Only vote for the Member-at-Large in the region of Japan you reside in. (e.g. If you reside in Tokyo, please only vote for "Member-at-Large for Eastern/Northern Honshu", leave the other Member-at-Large positions blank)

Democrats Abroad Japan’s Annual General Meeting is taking place this Sunday April 18th at 2pm via WebEx! 

Please attend to learn about what the party does for you, and how you can advance and change it! While we usually have enough in person, this will be our first completely online Annual General Meeting (AGM). If you attend any meeting for Democrats Abroad Japan, this is the one! It is imperative to have at least twenty members in attendance for quorum to stay in compliance, so please attend this Sunday even if you can’t stay the whole time!

The 2021 Nomination and Election Committee (NEC) of Democrats Abroad Japan (DAJ) is proud to call upon our membership to submit their nominations for the 2021 DAJ National Election. The call for nominations is for the following positions:

• National Officer positions
  • Chair (Chief executive officer)
  • Vice-Chair (Serves as Chair in their absence; serves as liaison to chapters and officers)
  • Secretary (Manages/maintains membership database; keeps minutes of all meetings)
  • Treasurer (Manages the finances of DAJ; prepares/maintains financial reports)
  • Counsel (Provides consultation on legal and procedural questions relating to DAJ and its activities)
• Member-at-Large positions (Represent areas in Japan that do not have an active chapter)
  • Hokkaido
  • Eastern/Northern Honshu
  • Western/Southern Honshu
  • Shikoku
  • Kyushu/Okinawa
• DPCA Voting Representative (Votes during certain conventions, meetings, and candidate and policy selections)
• Alternate DPCA Voting Representative

Members of Democrats Abroad Japan,

Thank you for all your hard work in the general election and in Georgia. Together with our allies in Asia Pacific and around the world, we really were able to make a big difference in the senate election and presidential election. Really, thank you. It took every vote we had to get through this year, and leaders in the Democratic Party are finally taking more notice of Democrats Abroad and its value. However, our terms are coming to an end in just under three short months.

So today, we'd like to announce the final Annual General Meeting (AGM) of our terms, taking place online on WebEx. It is important that at least 20 members attend, and while we had nearly 50 last year, turnout is usually lower in midterm years. If you are reading, please come to the annual meeting for an overview of everything we did and what to look for in candidates next term!

Date: Sunday, April 18th
Time: 2pm-4pm with 5pm extension if necessary. The meeting room opens from 1:30pm.
Place/Link: WebEx https://democratsabroad.webex.com/democratsabroad/e.php?MTID=mb74ebe20a5350b9802e91e0fe7dcf180
Password: dems
RSVP here: https://www.democratsabroad.org/annacostello/daj_annual_general_meeting_2021

Per our bylaws, we are including a link to the AGM minutes from our meeting last year: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_j7P1PVoTTZ1710Na8QyV149-kdL7Six_Wz2oPJJLb4/edit?usp=sharing

We'd also like to announce that the Nominations and Elections Committee (NEC) has been appointed and confirmed by the Executive Committee. The key deciding factors were expressed interest and follow-up on the documents/materials, and familiarity with the organization.

Its members will be:

Members:
Kiyoko Ayukawa
Anna Costello
Gregorio Gagnon

Observers:
Jenise Treuting

We will have more correspondence about our elections once the NEC requests dissemination of information regarding our election schedule and other materials.

Kindest,
John A. Baumlin
National Chair | AP 2020 DNC Delegate
Democrats Abroad Japan

Anna Costello
National Secretary
Democrats Abroad Japan