Compiled by Alexander Lee, General Counsel, DA-China (2019- ) from a variety of internal and external sources. People who do not know much about civics (e.g., that Members of Congress stand for re-election every two years) may want to take a deeper dive into American politics at Ballotpedia, the digital encyclopedia of American politics and elections, which aims to inform people about politics by providing accurate and objective information about politics at all levels of government by staying firmly committed to neutrality in their content.

You may find initialisms, acronyms and abbr. in the common parlance of this organization that do not appear here. You can look them up here: https://acronyms.thefreedictionary.com/, but please send an email to the current keeper of this glossary so we can update our list.

A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z

A

AP   See Asia-Pacific.

apportionment   See redistricting.

Asia-Pacific   One of the major geographic regions into which DPCA is divided. See regions.

B

Buckley    Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U.S. 1 (1976), was a landmark decision of the US Supreme Court, which held that limits on election spending in the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 § 608 are unconstitutional. In a per curiam ("by the Court") opinion, they ruled that expenditure limits contravene the First Amendment provision on freedom of speech because a restriction on spending for political communication necessarily reduces the quantity of expression. It limited disclosure provisions and limited the Federal Election Commission's power.

Ballot condom   Steps that election protection experts, such as Greg Palast, suggest to make sure your ballot is counted. 

C

Caging   "Vote caging is an illegal trick to suppress minority voters (who tend to vote Democrat) by getting them knocked off the voter rolls if they fail to answer registered mail sent to homes they aren't living at (because they are, say, at college or at war)." Greg Palast, Raging Caging: What the heck is vote caging, and why should we care? (May 31, 2007)

CallHub®   Sync your campaigns with CallHub and integrate with NationBuilder. Use tags, create surveys, generate event RSVPs, assign Supporter Levels and more. This tool saves DA time and money with an advanced outbound call center so that we can connect with voters.

CC   See Country Committee.

Census   Decennial activity of the United States Census Bureau that has occurred since 1790. The Bureau is a division of the U.S. Department of Commerce and is overseen by the Economics and Statistics Administration. Statistical information on the population collected through the census every 10 years is used for congressional apportionment 

chair   The position of leadership for a committee defined in the DPCA charter or a DPCA set of bylaws, otherwise defined by Roberts Rules of Order Newly Revised (current edition).

chum   Campaign gear such as bumperstickers, stickers, pins, lawn signs, and campaign buttons. The term is derived from the bait used to catch fish.

Citizens United   Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, 558 U.S. 310 (2010), was a landmark decision of the US Supreme Court, which held that the free speech clause of the First Amendment prohibits the government from restricting independent expenditures for political communications by corporations, including nonprofit corporations, labor unions, and other associations.

Country Committee   Country Committees are constituent units of Democrats Abroad as defined by the DA Charter. Members of DA that don't live in countries served by CCs are served directly by their Regional Vice Chair (RVC).

D

DA  See Democrats Abroad.

DACN   See Democrats Abroad China.

delegates   There are three types of Convention delegates. 

Democratic National Committee   The formal governing body of the Democratic Party. It coordinates among state Democratic parties, Democratic candidates, and a variety of constituency groups. 

Democratic Party Committee Abroad   Official name of the governing committee of DA. The DPCA is the group responsible for the mission of DA and it is distinct from each of the CCs and the full membership of DA. The members of this committee are listed in the Charter Section 2.2 (roughly, the Chair and Vice-Chair of each CC, the Voting Representatives of those CCs with large enough members, the elected officers of the DPCA, and the DNC members representing DA). When the Charter refers to DPCA members, it really means voting members of DA.

Democratic National Convention   The Democratic National Convention is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1832 by the United States Democratic Party. They have been administered by the Democratic National Committee since the 1852 national convention. 

Democrats Abroad  The general name used to refer to the DPCA, its voting members, or often, informally, any of its constituent CCs.

Democrats Abroad China   The official country committee of Democrats Abroad in China.

DNC   See Democratic National Committee AND Democratic National Convention.

donkey   Bred with a horse, will produce a mule. Distinct from the mammal called elephant. Stubborn, also referred to as jackass or, simply, ass. Although the donkey was used as a symbol of the Democratic Party as early as 1828, Thomas Nast is often credited with making it the symbol of the Democrats. Nast, a political cartoonist, first published a cartoon depicting a live jackass kicking a dead lion in Harper’s Weekly in 1870. 

Fig. 1   "jackass"

DPCA   See Democratic Party Committee Abroad.

E

elephant   An endangered or threatened, sometimes threatening, mammal indigenous to Asia, Africa, and prevalent in red counties of the United States. Unable to ever forget ancient history.

Fig. 2   Elephant statue torn down to make room for the jackass of Jackson.

EMEA   See Europe, Middle East & Africa.

Europe, Middle East & Africa  A geographical division used by many multinational corporations.

F

FATCA   The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) is an important development in U.S. efforts to combat tax evasion by U.S. persons holding accounts and other financial assets offshore. The Taxation Task Force of Democrats Abroad works on issues that effect Democrats living abroad which stem from this law.

Federal Post Card Application   A form that allows military voters, their families, and civilians living overseas to register to vote and request their absentee ballots. Completing the form accurately requires a reference to state rules, typically either a website like VoteFromAbroad.org or the reference Voter Assistance Guide (VAG) published by the Federal Voting Assistance Program.  

Federal Voter Assistance Project   Voting assistance for Service members, their families and overseas citizens.

Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot   A form that serves as a "backup ballot" for overseas voters. Completing the form accurately requires a reference to state rules, typically either a website like VoteFromAbroad.org or the VAG published by the FVAP.

FPCA   See Federal Post Card Application.

FVAP  See Federal Voter Assistance Project.

FWAB   See Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot.

G

gerrymander   The reorganization of voting districts by the party in power to insure more votes for their candidates. The term originated in 1811, when Governor Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts signed a bill that changed districts to favor the anti-Federalist faction. The shape of one new district supposedly resembled a salamander, provoking a Boston newspaper editor to say, "Salamander? Call it a Gerrymander!"

Fig. 3   Original gerrymander district.

Get Out The Vote  This is a core mission of DA and the Democratic Party. For DA, this term covers voter's process from completing the FPCA, through sending back a completed ballot, to checking to verify that the ballot was counted.

GOTV   See Get Out The Vote!

H

I

Intercom®   A customer service platform. DA uses Intercom, a switchboard ticketing system, for all incoming messages to Democrats Abroad and Vote From Abroad. Users respond by email to voters' questions from all over the world.   

J

jackass   See donkey.

K

L

LEO   See Local Election Official. Do not confuse with PLEO.

Local Election Official   Ultimately, LEOs decide whether a given FPCA is accepted, when absentee ballots are distributed, and how absentee ballots are integrated into the final count for Federal, state, and local elections. During each Federal election, the troubleshooters of DA's GOTV team interact dozens of times with LEOs to resolve problems that arise between a voter's completion of the FPCA through to the counting and verification of their ballots.

M

Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act   Amended UOCAVA and other statutes by providing greater protections for Service Members, their eligible family members and other overseas citizens. Among other provisions, the MOVE Act requires States to send absentee ballots to UOCAVA voters at least 45 days before federal elections.

Mobilize®   A communication tool used by leadership in DPCA.

MOVE Act  See Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act.

N

NationBuilder    "To lead effectively, you need to know who wants to hear from you and how. A dynamic NationBuilder database comes equipped with advanced privacy tools that allow you to manage affirmative and specific communications consent across your website, run customized re-permissioning campaigns, and make a supporter’s data downloadable at their request." That's why the DNC has used this database service for years and the DPCA has also elected to do so.

O

"one man [person], one vote"   1. Reynolds v. Sims, 377 U.S. 533 (1964), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court ruled that the electoral districts of state legislative chambers must be roughly equal in population. Along with Baker v. Carr (1962) and Wesberry v. Sanders (1964), it was part of a series of Warren Court cases that applied the principle of "one person, one vote" to U.S. legislative bodies.  2. In DA, it is also used to refer to the 2017 Charter Resolution 4, which amended the DPCA Charter by adopting a mandatory one-person-one-vote allocation system.

OpaVote®   OpaVote is a secure online voting platform that makes it easy to run elections, which help achieve more democratic outcomes by better representing the will of your voters. (This does not constitute an endorsement of this product by DACN or DPCA.)

P

parliamentary procedure   The body of rules, ethics and customs governing meetings and other operations of clubs, organizations, legislative bodies and other deliberative assemblies.

platform   The declared policy of a political party or group.

plank   Any of the principal policies making up the electoral platform of a political party.

PLEO   See Add-On Delegates.

pre-filling   A new technique where both well-meaning election officials and malicious officials (and possibly organizations) can pre-fill voter registration forms with names, birthdays, voter ID numbers, or other personally identifiable information in order to have them thrown out.

Q

R

reapportionment    See redistricting. 

redistricting   Decennial process by which new congressional and state legislative district boundaries are drawn. All United States Representatives and state legislators are elected from political divisions called districts. District lines are redrawn every ten years following completion of the United States Census.

region   Generally used to refer to one of three global divisions of Democrats Abroad. Foreign nations un-served by a CC are served by the regional entities. See also EMEA, AP, Americas.

Regional Vice Chair   The leader of one of three districts of Democrats Abroad, elected at a biennial Annual General Meeting.

Robert's Rules of Order  The most widely used manual of parliamentary procedure in the United States. Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised is in its 11th edition, published in 2011; a 12th edition will be published on Sept. 1, 2020. In 2005, the Robert's Rules Association published an official concise guide, titled Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised In Brief. A second edition of the brief book was published in 2011; a 3rd edition will be published on Sept. 1, 2020.

RONR   See Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised. N.B. Because there is no "N" in Robert's Rules, which is usually how people refer to RONR when speaking, this a confusing acronym to the layperson. "ronr." TheFreeDictionary.com. 2020. Farlex, Inc. 22 Jul. 2020 https://acronyms.thefreedictionary.com/RONR.

RVC   See Regional Vice Chair.

S

Slack®   The collaboration hub that brings the right people, information, and tools together to get work done used by many members of DPCA.

spoiling   A ballot may get spoiled when a voter makes any mark in the ballot that is contrary to statutory provisions envisaged in election statute. (US Legal) More than 534,000 mail ballots were rejected during 2020 primaries across 23 states  — nearly a quarter in key battlegrounds for the fall. 

standee   See image below.

stuffing   Ballot stuffing is a type of electoral fraud whereby a person permitted only one vote submits multiple ballots or some person or entity does so "on their behalf." 

T

U

Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act   Provides the legal basis for active members of the Uniformed Services, the Merchant Marine, and the commissioned corps of the Public Health Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, their eligible family members, and U.S. citizens residing outside the United States absentee voting requirements for federal offices.

UOCAVA   See Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act.

V

VAG See Voter Assistance Guide.

Voter Assistance Guide   GOTV resource published by the FVAP.

voter file See NationBuilder

W

wiki   A hypertext publication collaboratively edited and managed by some or all of its own audience, directly using a web browser; in DA, it is also the answer to all questions, as in, "You can find it on the wiki."

WeChat®    A social media and organizing platform for DACN. Volunteers connect with voters and members 1:1 and in group chats. DACN organizes various WeChat groups for the purposes of announcements, caucus work, and voter assistance.

X

Y

Z