2023 will be an important year for Democrats Abroad Germany to come back together and reestablish our strong community of members. This will be our year to establish the foundation necessary to make sure we can hit the ground running in 2024. At Democrats Abroad Germany, our goal will always be to get each and every U.S. citizen in Germany to vote.

After almost three years of mainly meeting online, we are pleased to invite you to our upcoming Annual General Meeting in Ingelheim am Rhein. The official meeting will take place at the iCC Konferenzzentrum in Ingelheim from Friday, March 24 to Sunday, March 26.

We will also elect our new Executive Committee (ExCom). These are the leaders of DA Germany and includes several officers, nine at-large coordinators, and 13 Voting Representatives. You can learn more about the election process, who's running, and how you can run yourself here.

If you are unable to attend in person, you still have the option to join the meeting online.

Schedule

Friday, March 24

• Starting at 17:00: A welcome cocktail reception to connect with each other over drinks.

Saturday, March 25

• 9:00: The first half of the meeting will be focused on "Rebuilding and Reorganizing". We will briefly highlight our activities across Germany over the past year. Our full attention will then be directed at how we can strengthen our organization after spending almost three years as a largely online organization. 2023 is the year for us to come back together and build the foundation we will need to be successful in 2024.
• 13:00: After lunch, elections for the new DA Germany leadership will be held. More information on the elections is below.
• 19:00: Following the meeting, we’ll gather for a three-course gala dinner at the nearby restaurant Winzerkeller.

Sunday, March 26

• 10:00: Members of the newly elected Executive Committee will hold their first meeting to discuss the next steps and to get a chance to meet everyone.
• For those that are not from the region, we will visit the Museum bei der Kaiserpfalz. This includes the Ingelheim Imperial Palace, which served emperors and kings as a lodging and a ruling seat. Following the tour, everyone is welcome to have lunch together at a local restauran.

Cost

For in-person attendance, we are asking for a donation of $35 for the main meeting on Saturday. The cost for meals are as follows:

• Friday cocktail reception: $15
• Saturday lunch: $10
• Saturday gala dinner (three-course meal): $65

Under the rules of the Democratic Party and Democrats Abroad, a fee for attending the meeting is not allowed. However, we kindly ask for a donation to cover use of the iCC Konferenzzentrum, drinks (coffee, tea, water, and more), technical equipment, copies, and supplies. We ask that you donate this amount to help us avoid drawing down the DA Germany treasury, which is devoted to getting out the vote. Participants do have to pay for meals.

We will collect information regarding any food allergies prior to the meeting to ensure that everyone will have something to eat.

If you are participating online, we would ask you to still consider making a donation of $15.

Stipends for Attending

DA Germany understands the accompanying financial cost of attending the AGM, which is why we are offering five stipends to enable more members to attend. Members are welcome to apply for a stipend using this application form. The deadline to apply is Sunday, February 12. Applicants will be noticed about the status of their application by Wednesday, February 15. 

Accommodation

The Wiesbaden-Mainz Chapter has compiled a list of hotels and additional travel-related information for participants. Rooms for DA Germany have been reserved at IBB Hotel Ingelheim. Rooms with the reduced price are available until February 17, 2023. More information on how to reserve a room can be found here.

Elections

We urge you to attend and vote in our upcoming election, as well as to consider running for one of the leadership positions. All details about the election can be found in the DA Germany Elections Rules and Procedures.

The Nominations and Elections Committee (NEC) will be hosting online information sessions where potential candidates can ask about the election positions, election rules, DA Germany Executive Committee or other related DA Germany questions. The dates and times for these sessions will be announced soon.

These DAG Executive Committee positions will be elected for two-year terms at the AGM:

• Chair
• Vice Chair
• Secretary
• Treasurer
• Academic Outreach Coordinator
• Advertising Coordinator
• Caucus Coordinator
• Chapter Development Coordinator
• Communications Coordinator
• Events & Fundraising Coordinator
• Get Out the Vote (GOTV) Coordinator
• Membership & IT Coordinator
• Press Coordinator
• 10-15 DPCA Voting Representatives (exact number pending)
  

Please review this document that includes detailed job descriptions for all positions.

To run in the election, a candidate must have been a member of DA for at least 30 days and reside in Germany on the day of the AGM (March 25).

Nominations, including self-nominations, can be made online to the NEC using this nomination form until February 27 at 12:00 CET. Nominations may also be made from the floor on the day of the election.

On February 27, the NEC will post the list of nominations received by then, as well as candidate statements and letters of endorsement, on the DAG Election page. This list of nominees, statements, and letters will be updated on March 6 and March 13.

More detailed information on how to run in the election and how to participate in the election is available on the DAG Elections page.

Changes to DA Germany Bylaws 

While we discussed and voted on amendments to DA Germany’s Bylaws at last year's AGM, and we typically strive to do this only every other year due to time constraints, you still have the right to submit proposed amendments to the Bylaws Committee. If you would like to propose an amendment, please send your proposal to [email protected] by February 20, 2023, with the following information:

• Changes you would like to make, listing Article and Section number where the changes should be applied. Please include either a direct mark-up of the text or describe your proposed change(s).
• What is the goal of making this proposal?
• How does this proposal achieve that goal?

You can find a copy of the current DAG bylaws here to help you formulate proposed changes. The bylaws were last amended in March 2022.

Once you RSVP to attend, you will be taken to the ticket page to purchase the meals and to donate to attend the meeting.

DA Germany 2023 Elections

Overview

DA Germany holds elections for new officers in the first quarter of every odd-number year. This includes positions at the local chapter level and the Germany national level.

All local chapter elections are held before the national elections.

Below, you will find an overview of the national elections.

National Elections

National elections will be held in person and online during the 2023 DA Germany Annual General Meeting on March 25-26, 2023. 

More information about the event is here.

National Election Rules & Procedures

The election rules are defined in the DA Germany Bylaws and the DA Germany National Election Rules. National-level elections are facilitated by a neutral, three-member Nominations and Election Committee (NEC) of the DA Germany ExCom. No members of the NEC were seeking national-level office themselves.

If you have any questions, please send to the 2023 Nominations and Elections Committee at [email protected]

National Positions

See Job Descriptions for all positions here.

DA rules state that our Chair and Vice Chair must be different genders, and no gender can make up more than half plus one of the full delegation of DPCA Voting Reps. We've asked candidates their gender and have included it for candidates for the relevant positions: (m) male, (f) female, (n) non-binary.

The available roles are:

• Chair
• Vice Chair
• Secretary
• Treasurer
• Academic Outreach Coordinator
• Advertising Coordinator
• Caucus Coordinator
• Chapter Development Coordinator
• Communications Coordinator
• Events & Fundraising Coordinator
• Get Out the Vote (GOTV) Coordinator
• Membership & IT Coordinator
• Press Coordinator
• DPCA Voting Representative (multiple positions)

If you would like to run for a position or nominate someone, please fill out the Nomination Form. If you would like to write a candidate statement, please fill out the Candidate Statement Form. If you wish to write a Letter of Endorsement for one of the candidates, please fill out the Letter of Endorsement Form.

Candidate Statements and Endorsements will be available soon on our National Candidates page.

Please join us Monday, February 27 at 7:00pm via Zoom for Chapter elections. The meeting will begin at 7:00pm, and voting will begin at 7:30pm. Voting will be held for Chair and Vice Chair positions. Voting is open to all Chapter members.

Please RSVP to this event to receive the Zoom link.

If you are interested in running for a position, you can read more about the elected roles here.

DA Germany will also be holding two information sessions for potential candidates on February 5 (2-3pm, event page here) and February 13 (7-8pm, event page here).

We've got some cool stuff in the works and want all Americans in our chapter to have access to events and information! NCB Members who opt-in to receiving e-mails get this newsletter delivered monthly.