Democrats Abroad is the official organization of the Democratic Party for

United States citizens Citizenship of the United States is a legal status that entails Americans with specific rights, duties, protections, and benefits in the United States. It serves as a foundation of fundamental rights derived from and protected by the Constituti ...

living temporarily or permanently abroad. The organization is given state-level recognition by the

Democratic National Committee The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is the governing body of the United States Democratic Party. The committee coordinates strategy to support Democratic Party candidates throughout the country for local, state, and national office, as well ...

. Democrats Abroad currently has members in more than 197 countries, with 48 organized country committees. There are committees in the

Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America, North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

, and

Oceania Oceania (, , ) is a geographical region that includes Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Spanning the Eastern and Western hemispheres, Oceania is estimated to have a land area of and a population of around 44.5 million ...

. These committees are formally represented by the Democratic Party Committee Abroad (DPCA). Some countries with particularly large concentrations of Democratic expatriates even have local chapters.

Voting from abroad

One of the prime functions of Democrats Abroad is to assist U.S. citizens abroad in

voter registration In electoral systems, voter registration (or enrollment) is the requirement that a person otherwise eligible to vote must register (or enroll) on an electoral roll, which is usually a prerequisite for being entitled or permitted to vote. The r ...

. To this end, it has created the website VoteFromAbroad.org which overseas Americans (Democrats and non-members alike) can use to register to vote. Since Presidents and members of Congress are elected by state, Americans abroad vote in the state in which they have most recently lived, each of which has its own registration and voting procedures. The VoteFromAbroad.org website asks voters which state they last lived in and then starts a wizard specific to their state that asks for the information necessary to comply with the election laws of that state. After all the information has been supplied, a PDF is created, which the voter can then print, sign, and mail to the address provided (or sometimes fax, or scan and attach to email). Several weeks before the election, the Board of Elections or County Registrar (states use various names) sends the voter an

absentee ballot An absentee ballot is a vote cast by someone who is unable or unwilling to attend the official polling station to which the voter is normally allocated. Methods include voting at a different location, postal voting, proxy voting and online vo ...

which the voter then fills out and sends back in order to cast their vote.

Activities

In addition to helping Americans living overseas to register to vote, Democrats Abroad engages in many other activities, mostly on a per country or per locality basis. Among other things, Democrats Abroad: *Provides help where there are problems with absentee ballots *Organizes lectures, debates, and other events on political topics, often with guest speakers *Strengthens contact between American ambassadors and

consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throu ...

s and overseas Americans *Lobbies Congress on expatriate issues (e.g. citizenship for children born abroad etc.) *Represents Americans abroad in the

*Raises funds for the Democratic Party *Runs a website containing news for Americans abroad

Leadership

Democrats Abroad has eight officers. All of them are elected. Officers include: *International Chair – Candice Kerestan *International Vice Chair – Art Schankler *International Treasurer – Cory Lemke (interim) *International Secretary – Jazzmin Dian Moore (interim) *International Counsel – Orlando Vidal *Regional Vice Chair for the Americas – ''Vacant'' *Regional Vice Chair for Asia/Pacific – Nicholas Gordon *Regional Vice Chair for Europe, Middle East and Africa – Jennifer Rakow-Stepper Democrats Abroad is represented on the

by eight members. The International Chair and Vice Chair are ex-officio members of the DNC. Democrats Abroad has

caucus A caucus is a meeting of supporters or members of a specific political party or movement. The exact definition varies between different countries and political cultures. The term originated in the United States, where it can refer to a meeting ...

es representing interest groups such as the Global AAPI Caucus, the Global Black Caucus, the Global Disabilities Caucus, the Global Hispanic Caucus, the Global LGBT+ Caucus, the Global Progressive Caucus, the Global Veterans and Military Families Caucus, the Global Women's Caucus, and the Global Youth Caucus.

History

Democrats Abroad was started with two small committees in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

after Lyndon B. Johnson defeated

Barry Goldwater Barry Morris Goldwater (January 2, 1909 – May 29, 1998) was an American politician and United States Air Force officer who was a five-term U.S. Senator from Arizona (1953–1965, 1969–1987) and the Republican Party nominee for president ...

in the

1964 U.S. presidential election The 1964 United States presidential election was the 45th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 3, 1964. Incumbent Democratic United States President Lyndon B. Johnson defeated Barry Goldwater, the Republican nomin ...

. Its original leaders, Toby Hyde and Al Davidson, raised funds and formed committees, and pushed for state-level recognition of Democrats Abroad. DNC Chairman John Bailey allowed Democrats Abroad to send nine non-voting representatives to the

Democratic National Convention The Democratic National Convention (DNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1832 by the United States Democratic Party. They have been administered by the Democratic National Committee since the 18 ...

in 1972; in 1976, the group was granted the status of a state committee, with voting delegates in the convention. Over the years, Democrats Abroad has worked for securing the full citizenship rights for Americans living abroad. It has lobbied for marriage equality, so that Americans in same-sex partnerships with citizens of other countries would not be denied the right to live together in the U.S. It supports reform of tax laws that unfairly burden Americans abroad. In particular, the group has long worked for voting rights for Americans at home and abroad, including supporting the

Voting Rights Act The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a landmark piece of federal legislation in the United States that prohibits racial discrimination in voting. It was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson during the height of the civil rights m ...

of 1965, the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act in 1986, and the Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot. Democrats Abroad switched its method of determining convention delegates from a

primary Primary or primaries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Primary (band), from Australia * Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea * Primary Music, Israeli record label Works ...

to an open caucus in

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment building in Amsterdam after two of its engin ...

. In 2008, Democrats Abroad switched back to a primary process. Former President

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...

is the current and first ever honorary chair of Democrats Abroad.

Primaries

Democrats Abroad sends a delegation to the Democratic National Convention every four years and has done so since 1976.

References

External links

*
Overseas Voter Registration website
{{authority control Democratic Party (United States) organizations Diaspora organizations of political parties American expatriate organizations Factions in the Democratic Party (United States) 1964 establishments in Washington, D.C.