We want to wish our DA-UAE members a very Happy New Year! As you know very well, 2020 will be an absolutely critical year for all Americans. We will of course have our Presidential elections in November—in what likely will be the most consequential and important election in our lifetimes.

There is a lot for you to do though to help, leading up to November. Here are the steps you can take over the few months:

January and February

• Registering to vote: Make sure you're all set to vote by requesting your ballot today! Go to votefromabroad.org to get started (Americans abroad must request our ballots every calendar year we wish to vote in). There are close to 8 million US citizens living abroad, but only a fraction of our fellow Americans will actually vote. We can be the margin of victory in the upcoming election, if we can get to work and register our fellow expatriates!
• Joining DA: Tell your American friends to join Democrats Abroad! Americans in the UAE can join the DA UAE country committee, but Americans in any country around the world can still join even if they don’t have a DA country committee. Joining Democrats Abroad will help ensure Americans have the information they need to be able to vote. Just tell them to go to democratsabroad.org to join.
• WhatsApp Group: Stay in better touch with DA UAE by joining our WhatsApp Message Board gby filling out the form here. This WhatsApp group is intended to be a communications tool to more effectively reach our Democrats Abroad UAE members to share important announcements regarding upcoming events/meetings and any other pertinent information (e.g., voting registration, elections, DA issues, etc). This is a broadcast-only whatsapp group--i.e., only group admins (DA ExCom officers) will be able to post to this group. We typically send only a few messages a month, for the most important announcements.
• Volunteering: We will be hosting volunteer orientations in Abu Dhabi and Dubai in January. We will discuss ways to get engaged locally, from phone banking to hosting house parties to staffing our polling stations for the Global Presidential Primary in Abu Dhabi and Dubai in March 2020. We will send out orientation dates and locations over the next couple of weeks. Join our DA-UAE Volunteer Whatsapp group here. This group brings together Democrats Abroad volunteers across the UAE, with group discussion limited to volunteering-related topics, e.g., ideas to get out the vote, increase membership, etc. 

March

• Global Presidential Primary: As an official state party recognized by the Democratic National Committee, we will hold our Global Presidential Primary (GPP) Election on multiple days from March 3 – 10. In the UAE, we will have voting centers set up in schools in both Dubai and Abu Dhabi: The American Community School of Abu Dhabi, Dwight School in Dubai, and the GEMS Dubai American Academy. Remember - you can vote in ONE Presidential Primary, either our Global Presidential Primary or your state’s presidential primary. More details to come soon, for now you can check out our GPP FAQs.
• Register and Join: It’s not too late to request your ballot (votefromabroad.org) or tell your friends to join (democratsabroad.org). We need to build our numbers throughout the year in preparation for November!

Stay tuned for other events, at both the local and global levels, throughout the quarter and the year.

We look forward to working with you all to take back our country this year. Any questions, please reach out via email to [email protected].