Democrats Abroad is the official organization of the Democratic Party for United States citizens living temporarily or permanently abroad. The organization is given

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

-level recognition by the

Democratic National Committee The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is the principal executive leadership board of the United States's Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party. According to the party charter, it has "general responsibility for the affairs of the ...

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

Americas The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.''Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sing ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, and

Oceania Oceania ( , ) is a region, geographical region including Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Outside of the English-speaking world, Oceania is generally considered a continent, while Mainland Australia is regarded as its co ...

. 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 Suffrage, eligible to Voting, vote must register (or enroll) on an electoral roll, which is usually a prerequisite for being entitled or permitted ...

. To this end, it has created the website VoteFromAbroad.org which overseas U.S. citizens (Democrats and non-members alike) can use to register to vote. Since Presidents and members of Congress are elected by state, U.S. citizens 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 which the voter then fills out and sends back in order to cast their vote.

Activities

In addition to helping U.S. citizens 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 U.S.

ambassadors An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or so ...

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 thro ...

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

*Raises funds for the Democratic Party *Runs a website containing news for U.S. citizens abroad

Leadership

Democrats Abroad has eight officers, all of them are elected. Officers include: *International Chair – Martha McDevitt-Pugh *International Vice Chair – Steve Nardi *International Treasurer – Daniela Salvioni *International Secretary – Inge Kjemtrup *International Counsel – Kate Sawyer *Regional Vice Chair for the Americas – Jessica Espadas *Regional Vice Chair for Asia/Pacific – Suma Shamanna *Regional Vice Chair for Europe, Middle East and Africa – Keith Brannum 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 caucuses 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 city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

after Lyndon B. Johnson defeated

Barry Goldwater Barry Morris Goldwater (January 2, 1909 – May 29, 1998) was an American politician and major general in the United States Air Force, Air Force Reserve who served as a United States senator from 1953 to 1965 and 1969 to 1987, and was the Re ...

in the 1964 U.S. presidential election. 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 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 U.S. citizens living abroad. It has lobbied for marriage equality, so that U.S. citizens 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 U.S. citizens abroad. In particular, the group has long worked for voting rights for U.S. citizens at home and abroad, including supporting the Voting Rights Act 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 to an open caucus in

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

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

Primaries

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

Positions

In April 2022, Democrats Abroad's Taxation Task Force voted to update its position, supporting the repeal of FATCA.

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. Political organizations established in 1964