Annual General Meeting

Driving Democracy

21 March 2021 - 16:00 via Zoom Housekeeping rules

• Robert’s Rules of Order are our guide to discussion. Vice-Chair Jeffrey Edison is monitoring the Chat. • If you’d like to speak, please type **handup and we will take comments & questions in order of the queue. • If you wish to speak a second time, you may re-join the queue by typing **handup and wait until all those waiting have spoken once. • If you are confused about something and we are moving on to another topic, type **point of information in the Chat to be recognized. • If you feel the Chair is breaking the rules of the meeting, please type **point of order in the Chat to be recognized.

• Secretary Trip Du Bard is taking minutes; we will share them and the presentation via email to all members who have opted in to receiving local emails. Zoom Tips

• Please mute your audio until you speak! • If you have bandwidth issues, switch off your video. • Consider setting your screen to Gallery mode to see more participants during general discussion (upper right corner of the app). You can also “Hide non-video participants”. • You can switch to Speaker view during Candidate Statements. • The Chat function is on the bottom - you can post to Everyone or select a participant. • You can see the full participant list by clicking on Participants - please use your full name…and add your voting state! (Click on the three dots in the upper right corner of your picture). AGM Agenda 4:00 Welcome & Call to Order Pauline Manos Introduction of the Nominations & Elections Committee Gail Evans Establishment of the Quorum Candidate Statements (90 seconds each) All ExCom Candidates Distribution of Electronic Ballots Gail Evans

4:45-5:00 Voting Time & Break All Members

5:00 Outgoing ExCom Reports Sharon Bronzwaer Jeffrey Edison Pauline Manos

5:20 All- American Raffle Jeffrey Edison Global Caucus Updates Onelica Andrade Annie Tanampai Other Business (time permitting) All Members 5:50 Announcement of Election Results Gail Evans 6:00 Closing Pauline Manos

MOTION TO APPROVE THE AGENDA? 2019 - Democracy in Action

2020 - Defending Democracy

2021 - Driving Democracy DAB Outgoing Executive Committee 2019-2021 Chair - Pauline Manos Vice-Chair - Jeffrey Edison Secretary - Trip DuBard Treasurer - Sharon Bronzwaer Counsel - Natalie McNelis Member-at-Large - Brigit Carroll Member-at-Large - Josh Davila DAB Nominations & Elections Committee Gail Evans - Chair Natalie McNelis Annie Tanampai DAB ExCom Elections

• Establishment of the Quorum - at least 25 members present

• Candidates Statements - 90 seconds each

• Distribution in the Chat of the Google Forms link to the electronic ballot. Members will have 10 minutes to vote. Note that all members have received an absentee ballot link on March 7th.

• The NEC will adjourn to a breakout room to count the ballots while the meeting continues.

• In case of a tie for any position, we will hold a runoff election. A new electronic ballot will be mailed on Monday March 22nd to all members who have opted to receive local emails. Ballots will be due back on Sunday March 28th at 5pm CET.

ANY QUESTIONS?

WE’LL NOW STOP SHARING OUR SCREEN

YOU CAN GO TO “SPEAKER” MODE TO SEE THE CANDIDATES AS THEY PRESENT. Treasurer’s Report Sharon Bronzwaer Treasurer’s Report Jan 1 - Dec 31, 2020 Cash on hand 01 January 2020 (Euros): 1,490.90

Contributions: Miscellaneous Product Sales 265.00 Individual Member Contributions 3,580.00 Thanksgiving Pie Donations – K. Maher & Co. 675.00

Sub-total Contributions: 4,520.00

Disbursements: Reimbursement Postage/Postcards 612.79 Reimbursement Manos YouTube advertising 3,736.20

Sub-total Disbursements: 4,348.99

Cash on hand 31 December 2020: 1,661.91

Items separate from KBC Account Reimbursements from DA – Facebook Ads 8,959.36 Treasurer’s Report Jan 1 - Mar 21, 2021

Cash on hand 01 January 2021: 1,661.91

Contributions: All-American Raffle Ticket Sales & Member Donations

Disbursements: Reimbursement Georgia Postage/Postcards

Cash on hand 20 March 2021 2,227.08

RAFFLE TICKET SALES STILL OPEN! PAYPAL LINK IN THE CHAT - €10 PER TICKET Membership Report Jeffrey Edison, Vice-Chair DAB Membership • Membership count used to allocate votes for Democratic Party Committee Abroad (DPCA), aka Democrats Abroad International • Membership count confirmed every January 31st - includes all members whose info was last verified during the previous 4 years. • For Belgium, 127 members were excluded for not having verified information during the last 4 years; 9 members excluded due to us not having local contact details (address or phone number) and no possible duplicates. • Our membership was the 24th ‘cleanest’ globally (last year, 13th) based on percentage of members excluded from the count. DAB Membership DAB Membership

• Our official verified membership count as of January 31, 2021 was 1,753. • This entitles us to 3 votes in all Global DPCA meetings. • As per our bylaws, these votes are held by the Chair, Vice-Chair & Secretary. • As of March 21, 2021, we have 1,884 members in our database, ranging in age from 17 to 98. • +20% since Dec 2019, +187% since Dec 2016 • However, 2,149 people used VoteFromAbroad.org in Belgium in 2020…and over 235,000 people used VFA globally! • We did not grow as quickly as other chapters - change from 2019 to 2021: +12,7% (globally +31,9%)

Change 2012 to 2016 Change 2008 to 2012 (LVD2015) Change 2016 to 2020

Belgium +41,4% -10,7% +74,6%

Globally +75,4% -27,8% +209,6% How big are we?

2020 2019 • Rank Country Commiee Percent Rank Country Percent DAB slipped from 20th 1 United Kingdom 13.98% 1 United Kingdom 13,7% to 24th in size, as DA 2 Canada 13.88% 2 Canada 13,5% 3 Germany 8.86% 3 Germany 7,8% membership exploded. 4 France 6.89% 4 France 7,1% 5 Mexico 5.34% 5 Mexico 5,2% 6 Australia 3.47% 6 Dominican Republic 3,7% • 7 Spain 3.26% 7 Netherlands 3,2% The Top 5 remained 8 Spain 3,1% 8 Netherlands 3.17% unchanged but the 9 Australia 2,9% 9 Italy 2.63% 10 Italy 2,7% UAE, SK, NZ, DK & 10 Switzerland 2.54% 11 Switzerland 2,6% 11 Japan 2.28% 12 Japan 2,5% Austria overtook us. 12 Sweden 2.08% 13 Sweden 2,0% 13 Israel 1.80% 14 Ireland 1,9% 14 Ireland 1.78% 15 Thailand 1,7% • We need to find the 15 China 1.56% 16 China 1,6% 16 Thailand 1.54% 17 Israel 1,4% rest of those 11,000 US 17 United Arab Emirates 1.27% 18 Norway 1,3% citizens living here and 18 South Korea 1.21% 19 Belgium 1,3% 19 Norway 1.16% 20 United Arab Emirates 1,2% convince them to join! 20 Denmark 1.13% 21 New Zealand 1.10% 22 Austria 1.07% 23 Dominican Republic 1.03% 24 Belgium 1.02% 25 Costa Rica 0.99% Chair’s Report Pauline Manos The State of DAB in 2020

My overall assessment:

The twin evils of Covid & Trump gave us the blessing of an incredible outpouring of support, as membership and active volunteers nearly doubled vs. 2016.

For the first time in at least six years, we are entering an ExCom election with candidates for all seats…and multiple candidates for some!

Rather than share the usual list of events of the past year, I’d like to thank the people who made things happen - hopefully their work will give you an idea of the things we do and inspire you to help us do more over 2021-2022! It’s thanks to…. …all of you who’ve called, colored, filmed yourselves, donated, joined us for a drink….and voted! You made the difference. But a special shout-out to: • Jeffrey Edison, who volunteered as Vice-Chair when we desperately needed one in August 2016, and who’s continued being our IT, tax & Membership guru and voice of practicality over the years. • Onélica Andrade, who ran our complex Global Presidential Primary just before lockdown and postcard coloring campaigns during, and for daring to run and win a position as DA Delegate to the 2020 Democratic National Convention. • Trip DuBard, who organized fundraising drives, pushed us on student voter reg, and kept us single-mindedly focused on GOTV. • Pam Miller, Paula Cagli, Miles Herszenhorn, Robin De Wouters & Darren Dyke for driving our social media team, reaching out to Stateside groups to drive awareness of DA, and finally getting us on YouTube & Instagram! • Jerry Loftus, Kirsten Maher, Matthew Newman, Robin DeWouters, Filippe Goosens, Sara Atwood & Laura Shields who answered all calls to share our message with the press and get it into clear English, French & Flemish. • Tony Maciejowski for organizing our first Belgian phonebanking team…and our Happy Hours, even when they went virtual! • Ahsen Ozkan for starting our raucous WhatsApp chat groups that kept us together when in-person events couldn’t. • Anne Clark & Almaz Sullivan for organizing Antwerp Pub Socials before lockdown and keeping Antwerp going after. • Sandra Keegan & Robin Lofton for a our most memorable Black History Month event at Toukoul Café. • Trip DuBard & Anne Clark for bringing & Jamaal Bowman to the Global DA Speaker Series. • Jerry Loftus for his ever-insightful Film Nights, as we moved to Confinement Cinema. • Sarah Murphy for inspiring us to Reach A Peach in Belgium and sending our votes to Georgia. • Gail Evans, Natalie McNelis & Annie Tanampai for running this year’s ExCom Elections. • Gaby Leyden, Annie Tanampai & Kirsten Maher for their delicious jam & Thanksgiving pies, which takes me to…. Raffle Time! Our All-American Raffle!

• Each €10 donation entitles you to one entry - you can still donate right now via the PayPal link in the chat!

• The winners will be chosen via Random Name Picker. Kirsten & Jeffrey are happy to facilitate delivery � Thanks to Kristen Crosson, Gail Evans & James Gehrke for their prizes!

Five prizes : 1. an American comfort food basket - Sandra Keegan 2. a Biden-Harris t-shirt - Trip DuBard 3. a homemade baked treat - Trip DuBard 4. another homemade treat - Linda Danielson 5. a fun Trivial Pursuit - Robin DeWouter Global Caucus Updates

For more info on DA’s Global Caucuses go to https://www.democratsabroad.org/caucuses

All DA members are encouraged to join those that interest them! From the Global Women’s Caucus, an ERA Call to Action

• On March 17, the US House passed the ERA Bill to remove the deadline from the Equal Rights Amendment • We now need Senate support • Share why you support the ERA democratabroad.org/era_stories • Stories received by March 24 will be sent to all Senators • Thanks Jillian Mertsch & Kirsten Maher! Global Hispanic Caucus - Onélica Andrade - get in touch at [email protected]

Global AAPI Caucus - Annie Tanampai - get in touch at [email protected] Democrats Abroad Hispanic Caucus Democrats Abroad Hispanic Caucus

The caucus was set to provide a forum for all Democrats Abroad members to better understand the issues and concerns affecting the U.S. Hispanic community, to help engage with U.S. Hispanic voters living abroad and ensure that their needs are met within the Democrats Abroad community, and, where needed, to advocate for reforms to political issues. Therefore, DAHC is integrated with US Hispanic citizens and their allies from all over world. DAHC has nearly 1,500 members living in 82 countries around the world. Most members vote in California, Texas, Florida, and New York.

Join us: https://www.democratsabroad.org/hc_signup Our priorities this year

! Comprehensive Immigration reform

! Health Care

! Voting Rights

! Taxation reform for Americans living Abroad

! Statehood for Puerto Rico

! Education and Climate Change Upcoming Activities and Events:

● Monthly meetings to touch base, next one on April 11th at 10 am CET https://www.democratsabroad.org/ legislative_pulse_using_billtrack50_to_follow_legislation ● Immigration Reform events series ○ First event on Dreamer and Farmworker Justice (March 25th at 7.30 pm CET) : https://www.democratsabroad.org/immigration_reform ● March Newsletter: https://www.democratsabroad.org/hc-march_2021_newsletter ● Border Town partnerships between DA and State parties https:// mangomap.com/demsabroadmx/maps/116607/us-born-population-by- municipality# In the pipeline

● Diversity & Inclusion Task Force looking for 6 regional members (non DPCA voters) on task force

● Understanding radicalization/conservatives, how to interact with "the Trump supporter family member/friend”

● Human Library - small group conversation with 4-6 DA members with interesting backstories discussing their life journey. Format is reddit AMA style, safe space to ask the questions that are hard to ask in other venues. (Amerika, AP July meeting) In the pipeline

● New faces running for Office (progressive candidates, some with no political background).

● Health Care collecting testimonies about universal health care abroad ○ Previous project: https://www.democratsabroad.org/healthcare_stories

● Prep for DAHC Transition

● Updating our ToRs

If there’s an event/activity that you’d like to help with let us know! Contact us at: [email protected] Election Results Election Results

• Chair: Trip DuBard

• Vice Chair: Onelica Andrade

• Counsel: Sandra Keegan

• Treasurer: Jeffrey Edison

Note: these positions were uncontested. Election Results

Secretary • Matthew Goldman Election Results

Members-at-Large (2 positions) • Joe Brinker • Sonya Reines-Djivanides Get Involved!

email us at [email protected]

Request your overseas ballot TODAY - www.votefromabroad.org - you are NOT a typical absentee ballot voter!!

Help us reach more US voters by liking and sharing our YouTube channel, DAB Twitter & Instagram feeds, our Friends of DAB Facebook Page.

Support our local Get Out the Vote efforts (US citizens only!) by donating to "DAB” at KBC BE74 7360 2169 3207.

Help fund our global infrastructure of databases, phonebanking programs, Stateside election official outreach and more through www.democratsabroad.org/donate Any other business? Motion to adjourn? Thank You for Coming!