AIT: Important Information about New Absentee Voting Law

Americans, be sure to register at www.democratsabroad.org. If you're on Facebook, join our group at www.groups.to/democratsabroadtaiwan.

The following message is a re-post from "AIT_Citizens", a Yahoo group for Americans living in Taiwan.

The American Institute in Taiwan(AIT) is transmitting the following
information through the AIT's warden system as a public service to
all U.S. citizens in Taiwan. Please disseminate this message to U.S.
citizens in your organizations or to other Americans you know.

On October 28, 2009, Congress enacted the Military and Overseas Voter
Empowerment (MOVE) Act. This legislation amends existing law regarding
overseas voting in federal elections, and should make voting easier for
overseas Americans.

New Procedures for 2010 Elections

Beginning with the November 2010 general election, and for all
subsequent general, special, and primary elections, states will be
required to mail out ballots at least 45 days prior to an election for a
federal office. This requirement may cause some states to select
earlier primary dates in order to comply with the 45 day mailing
deadline, or to request waivers due to special circumstances.

In addition to mailing ballots to overseas voters, the states will be
required, at the voter's request, to provide registration forms,
absentee ballot request forms, and blank ballots via fax or email.
However, each state's laws determine whether ballot requests or voted
ballots can be returned via fax or email. The new law prohibits states
from rejecting marked ballots based on notarization, paper size, or
paper weight requirements. The witnessing requirements of individual
states remain in place.

Overseas Absentee Ballot Requests

Effective immediately, states will no longer be required by federal law
to continue to mail election materials to overseas addresses (even when
they are determined to be invalid) for two complete general election
cycles on the basis of a single ballot request.

It will now be up to each state to determine how long to continue to
send out election materials before requiring overseas voters to submit
new ballot requests. This change, sought by local election officials,
should greatly decrease the volume of voting materials sent abroad to
addresses where Americans no longer reside.

State Department Recommendations

In light of these changes, the Department of State recommends that all
U.S. voters residing abroad request absentee ballots from their local
election officials at the start of each calendar year, and whenever
there is a change of address, change of e-mail address, or change of
name, by completing and sending in a Federal Post Card Application
(FPCA). To locate information on your specific state's requirements,
and to obtain an on-line version of the FPCA, please visit www.fvap.gov
. Voters may also pick up a hard copy of the
FPCA from any U.S. embassy or consulate. FPCAs may be mailed to your
local voting officials in the United States via international mail or
from any U.S. embassy or consulate. Many states allow U.S. citizens
overseas to submit the FPCA by e-mail or fax.

The Department of State strongly encourages all U.S. overseas voters to
provide email addresses or fax numbers on their FPCAs to enable local
election officials to transmit election materials in the fastest manner
available, which should then allow sufficient time for the return of
voted ballots. For information regarding your specific state, please
visit www.fvap.gov .

Emergency Ballots

The Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot (FWAB) serves as an emergency
ballot for the November general elections for federal offices, although
some states also permit its use for elections for state and local
offices. Beginning in January 2011, the new law allows use of the FWAB
for primary, special, and runoff elections for federal offices. Voters
who request an absentee ballot in advance of their state's ballot
request deadline, but who fail to receive an official ballot from local
election officials in time to vote, should complete the Federal Write-In
Absentee Ballot and send it back to local election officials in time for
it to be counted. An on-line version of the FWAB, together with
instructions for its use, is available at www.fvap.gov
.

Questions?

The Voting Assistance Officer at the AIT is also always available to
answer questions about absentee voting. To contact the Voting
Assistance Officer, call 02-2162-2014 or send an e-mail
to VoteTaipei@state.gov .

U.S. citizens living or traveling in Taiwan are encouraged to register
with the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT). Registration may be done
online and in advance of travel. Warden messages detailing the most
recent information for American citizens registered with AIT may be
found on AIT's website at www.ait.org.tw
Information on registering may be found at the Department of State's
Consular Affairs website at http://travel.state.gov
. US. citizens should consult the Department
of State's consular information sheet for Taiwan which is available
via the internet at http://travel.state.gov
U.S. citizens may obtain up-to-date information on security conditions
by calling 1-8888-501-4747 toll-free in the United States and Canada, or
202-501-4444 from overseas.

U.S. citizens may contact AIT/Taipei via email at amcit-ait-t@state.gov
or by telephone at 2162-2014 during
working hours or fax at 2162-2239 after hours or on weekends.
AIT/Taipei is located at 7, Land 134 Xinyi Rd, Sec. 3 Taipei, 10659 .
AIT/Kaohsiung may be reached by telephone at 07-2387744 and is located
at 5/F No. 2 Chung Chen 3rd Road, Kaohsiung. AIT's website,
http://www.ait.org.tw contains complete
information about services provided and hours of operation.

The House of Representatives’ Historic Vote to Pass Health Insurance Reform

Americans, be sure to register at www.democratsabroad.org. If you're on Facebook, join our group at www.groups.to/democratsabroadtaiwan.

Democrats Abroad International Chair Issues Statement
Praising the House of Representatives’ Historic Vote to
Pass Health Insurance Reform

[Geneva, Switzerland] – The Affordable Health Care for America Act was passed last night by the House of Representatives, an important step towards ensuring every American has access to quality, affordable, stable and secure health care coverage. This legislation will finally rein in the insurance companies’ worst practices while extending coverage to 36 million Americans and cutting the deficit by $104 billion in the next ten years. The bill was supported by a wide range of groups including doctors, patients, seniors, consumers and Americans from every state. All but one Republican voted against the bill.

“Last November, Americans voted for change, and today, that’s what they got. Nearly one hundred years ago President Teddy Roosevelt called for health care reform, and today, we have come closer than ever to making it a reality,” Christine Schon Marques, International Chair, Democrats Abroad, said.

“The Affordable Health Care for America Act will provide long overdue reforms to the insurance industry and important protections for Americans. It will also provide more quality, affordable choices while bringing down the sky-high costs for families and businesses and lowering the national deficit. Because of this act, insurance companies will no longer be able to deny coverage because of pre-existing conditions or cancel coverage because of illnesses,” Ms. Marques continued.

“Today I thank President Obama and Congressional Democrats for their strong leadership on health insurance reform. While this isn’t the end of the process, it’s a critical step towards finally passing comprehensive health insurance reform,” Ms. Marques said.

Democrats Abroad Marks Its 45th Anniversary

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Celebrations Planned Around the World

Washington, DC –This month, Democrats Abroad marks its 45th anniversary with celebrations planned around the world. Founded in 1964, Democrats Abroad is the official overseas branch of the U.S. Democratic Party. With members in more than 160 countries around the globe, Democrats Abroad holds eight positions on the Democratic National Committee and sends a voting delegation to the Democratic National Convention to select our presidential candidate.

“We at the DNC are proud to have such a strong party organization representing our Democrats living abroad,” Governor Tim Kaine, Chair of the Democratic National Committee, said. “Your work is a vital part of the Democratic Party and our successes.”

“Democrats Abroad has grown from just two small committees in London and Paris to a worldwide organization. Our membership is now strong enough to have a significant impact on elections at home in the U.S,” Christine Schon Marques, International Chair, said. “Even though we live abroad, we still feel passionately about our country, domestic policy and our elected leadership, particularly now as we work to pass meaningful health insurance reform and restore the U.S. image abroad.”

“Forty-five years ago, Americans residing overseas were in practice disenfranchised because of the difficulties in registering and voting. Thanks in large part to the hard work of Democrats Abroad, that is no longer true,” Peter Alegi, an original member of Democrats Abroad, said.

Democrats Abroad started simultaneously in London and Paris in 1964 when Lyndon Johnson defeated Barry Goldwater. Under the leadership of Toby Hyde and Al Davidson, funds were raised and committees formed. However, votes could not be cast because in 1964, U.S. citizens residing abroad did not have the right to an absentee ballot in most States.

Among other accomplishments, Democrats Abroad hosted the first Global Primary on the internet, successfully lobbied for the passage of the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act in 1986, and in 2006, launched an on-line voter registration engine, www.VoteFromAbroad.org

Worldwide celebrations will kick-off in Paris on October 4, 2009, and close in London on November 4, 2009. For more information regarding the celebrations, please visit www.democratsabroad.org

Americans, be sure to register at www.democratsabroad.org. If you're on Facebook, join our group at www.groups.to/democratsabroadtaiwan.

We had a small but enthusiastic turnout for the second movie night of 2009 on Wednesday night. The burritos and margaritas were some of the best (and strongest for the latter) I have had in Taiwan. Unfortunately, the alcohol did very little numb the sting produced by the punch of Errol Morris’s absolutely stunning documentary of Robert McNamara, The Fog of War. Frightening is just about all I can say. Listening to his account of the Cuban missile crises was really the first time I have realized just how close completely rational people on both sides of the Atlantic came a nuclear exchange, and therefore just how close I came to not being born 14 years later.

We will be planning more movie nights in Taipei, and hopefully in other cities, hopefully one a month. But we need you guys, the DAT members and supporters, to tell us what venues, times and movies you’d like to see with a bunch of like-minded (well at least somewhat like-minded) political film junkies. So drop us a line, really!

One more thing: Josh Davis, DAT treasurer and grad student at National Sun Yat-Sen University, has been getting his hands and feet dirty helping out in the relief efforts in the wake of Typhoon Morakot. I’m sure he’s not the only DAT member out on the front lines, but I thought I’d share a link to his most recent blog post about what their doing down there. http://web.me.com/jddavis79

Movie Night! Aug. 19th: The Fog of War

Americans, be sure to register at www.democratsabroad.org. If you're on Facebook, join our group at www.groups.to/democratsabroadtaiwan.

DAT is back with the second movie night of summer 2009, a documentary: The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara (2003). Be there!

Special Primary Election in California, 10th Congressional District

Americans, be sure to register at www.democratsabroad.org. If you're on Facebook, join our group at www.groups.to/democratsabroadtaiwan.

A recent email from Tammy Turner, DA Taiwan, about how the Federal Voting Assistance Program is adopting more social networking tools in preparatino for the 2010 elections sent me over to their site. Turns out, there's an early primary scheduled for the 10th District of CA that's happening in Sep., 2009! If you think you might be from the 10th District, go to www.fvap.gov to find out how to vote. If you still aren't sure or would like help, contact us at democratsabroadtaiwan@gmail.com.

From fvap.gov:

On Tuesday, September 1, 2009, there will be a special primary election in the 10th Congressional District of California to determine the political parties’ candidates to appear on the ballot for a special general election to be held on Tuesday, November 3, 2009, to fill the seat vacated by Representative Ellen O. Tauscher. If one candidate receives a majority of the votes (50% + 1) in the special primary election, no special general election will be held. To determine if your legal residence is in the 10th Congressional District, click on http://www.fvap.gov/reference/electoff.html and then on "United States House of Representatives." Candidates for this election can be found at http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/Special/cd10/.

DEADLINES:

For September 1, 2009 Primary	Overseas Citizens	Uniformed Service Members
Absentee Voter Registration	August 17, 2009	August 17, 2009
Ballot Request for Registered Voters	August 25, 2009	August 25, 2009
Ballot Return	September 1, 2009	September 1, 2009

For November 3, 2009 General	Overseas Citizens	Uniformed Service Members
Absentee Voter Registration	October 19, 2009	October 19, 2009
Ballot Request for Registered Voters	October 27, 2009	October 27, 2009
Ballot Return	November 3, 2009	November 3, 2009

Great Turnout at July 4th Celebration in Kaohsiung

Americans, be sure to register at www.democratsabroad.org. If you're on Facebook, join our group at www.groups.to/democratsabroadtaiwan.

This year Democrats Abroad Taiwan threw a 4th of July celebration at "Join Us" in Kaohsiung. A good time was had by all. A raffle drawing was held that included bound copies of President Obama's inauguration address, Obama t-shirts ....and yes, a President Obama paper doll book. The Kaohsiung Improv League performed in their "Final" championship round for the season and then Pan-Africana played jammin' beats early into the morning.