MINUTES GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING

DEMOCRATS ABROAD – PHILIPPINES

27 September 2020, Sunday 2:30pm
Via Zoom
Attendance
1. Lisa Pagkalinawan
2. Kathleen Guido
3. John Boyd
4. Mary Racelis
5. James Todd
6. Carmen Bonoan
7. Helen Graham
8. Bob Mangan
9. Gayle Zialcita
10. Karen Hollnsteiner
11. Melani Borra

Call for quorum and approval of the minutes

The meeting started at 2:40pm with a quorum of nine members.
Two more joined later. Kathleen Guido motioned to approve the
minutes of the previous meeting and John Boyd seconded.

Updates
Dorothy Drysdale distributed a flyer about voting to the
International School Manila community.
Gay has a friend who can connect Lisa to a journalist who may be
interested in writing a story about the election.
Lisa mentioned that all ballots that must be returned by mail
should arrive at the US Embassy by Oct. 5 in order to guarantee
they reach their destination on time.
Democrats Abroad Global approved the request for funds that Lisa
made for postcards and ads. We received $2,372 and so far Lisa
has spent about $300 for postcards which were printed and sent
to 182 people. Ads were put in the Philippine Star and Philippine
Inquirer today with the help of Melani. Lisa is in the processing of
getting authorized to post ads on our Facebook page. We have
$300 extra from DA for Facebook ads and boosting posts.
Lisa reported that DHL may offer a discount for ballots mailed
from Asia Pacific countries. But Lisa recommended sending ballots
through the Embassy if voters don’t want to spend the money
required for international couriers.
The global Zoom Help Desk every Sunday has so far helped over
1,000 people. This is one-on-one help and anyone who would like
to volunteer please contact Lisa.
Dave Kuchenbecker and Bing Ganchero handed out postcards at
strategic places to people they thought might be Americans and
to friends. There are also posters with tear-off tabs, for anyone to
take around to condos, restaurants, etc.
Lisa also appealed for volunteers to explore the various expat
websites to see if we can run ads or articles.

Plan for upcoming debate-watch events

The first presidential debate will be from 9:00am to 10:30am
Manila time on Wed. Sept. 30. Because it was logistically too
difficult to watch all together, it was decided to have a group
discussion afterward via Zoom starting at 11am.

Volunteers
- Gay has media contacts. Lisa asked if anyone else does.
- CallHub volunteers are needed to make calls to DA members
(using a computer), reminding and urging them to vote. Anyone
who cannot make calls is invited to donate to DA to help pay for
this calling campaign. (The volunteers do not pay for the calls.)
Between Sept 17-23 about 5,000 calls per day were made at a cost
of $7,800. James can help with the calls.
- We need help setting up a “I voted from the Philippines” frame
for Facebook. James will help with this.
- Volunteers are needed to help answer questions via email from
DA members. James can help.
- Sign up for “Voting Champions” was explained in an email to all
members – people can sign up to reach out to 3-5 others and urge
each one of them to reach out to 3-5 more people.
- John will be sent a list of Americans in Clark and reach out to
them to vote.
- Mary will try to reach out to her Cornell alumni group reminding
any Americans to vote. Anyone part of a similar group is
requested to reach out to any US citizens.
- Carmen can reach out to physician groups reminding any
Americans to vote.
- Mary suggested we concentrate on US citizens in swing states
and Lisa said these have been tagged on our membership list and
Dave Kuchenbecker is calling them.
Upcoming Events
- Lisa said the US Embassy is hosting a townhall meeting on Oct. 2
at 9am to answer questions about voting from abroad. All US
citizens are urged to join the Embassy STEP program to receive
their emails.
On Tuesday Oct. 6 at 10 am Lisa will take part in a webinar panel
discussion hosted by Manila House BGC on the topic “What will a
Biden-Harris presidency mean for the Philippines?” A sign-up
email has already been sent out to our membership.

Next Meeting will be Sunday October 11, 2020 at 2:30pm.

This meeting was adjourned at 3:43pm.