It had to happen eventually, and it looks like it's finally in "the works". New Zealand has never had an official organized country committee of Democrats Abroad. In the past, people have become involved in GOTV and information efforts, but the groups have never been an official organized country committee.
This is about to change.
There are already approximately 500 ex-pat Americans in New Zealand who have expressed interest and joined the Facebook page set up by the acting Chairman, Jason Barba. Interim officers' names have been put forward to the Asia-Pacific region folks. And on 21 January, 2009, we will be meeting to adopt the bylaws and elect officers. Kudos to Jason for all of his hard work so far and to the continued hard work he knows he has ahead of him.
Later in the day, we will be having an inauguration party. Due to the time/date differences between Auckland and D.C., we'll have to watch Obama's speech on tape. It should be a lot of fun, though. Hanging out with Dems is always more fun than staying home and much more fun than work! The election night party sure was. I'm not sure if this link will work outside of New Zealand, but you can check out some of the Auckland media coverage of that event here -
Campbell Live Vid
Democrats Abroad started in 1964, after Lyndon B. Johnson defeated Barry Goldwater. The first two committees were in London and Paris. It currently has members in more than 200 countries, with more than 40 organized country committees. As I'm sure you all know, one of the prime functions is to assist U.S. citizens abroad in voter registration.
Folks, this is exciting. New Zealand has NEVER had an organized country committee, and we're looking at having at least two chapters (Auckland and Wellington) comprised of 500 or so individuals. If you live in NZ and would like to become involved with Democrats Abroad, message me or visit http://www.democratsabroad.org/...
IMHO, this is EPIC.