Recently the European, Middle Eastern and African members of Democrats Abroad, the official Democratic Party organization for the millions of Americans living outside the United States, teamed up in Brussels to elect Clinton and Obama delegates to the Democratic National Convention. The two-day event was both emotionally charged and invigorating, reminding us that as Americans living abroad, our responsibility in participating in the political process is more important now than it ever was.

On the first morning, the participants regrouped to review the general guidelines, reporting the number of registered regional caucus electors. The countries which had the biggest voter turnout in the Democrats Abroad Global Primary were those in the U.K., followed by France, Germany and Italy. According to this, each voting member was allocated a certain percentage of voting weight based on the statistical strength of participation that their country committee received in the primary.

The group then separated into Clinton and Obama caucuses to select their delegates. In both groups, fervor and passion abound throughout this extremely participative and engaging process.

On a crisp March day in Brussels, we were privileged to listen to the enlightening testimonials of about 100 Americans living across our region who wanted to represent their candidate at the Democratic Convention in Denver. So many diverse and qualified individuals spoke of the myriad reasons they believed in our party and in our candidates. So many had volunteered feverishly to bring Americans living abroad closer to the candidates, which made choosing who to vote for to represent Democrats Abroad at the convention extremely difficult.

It is a tremendous feeling to know, as an American living abroad, that we are able to participate in this historical time in our party. So much evidence poured out from the people, faces and personalities in these groups testifying to the diversity and beauty of our party.

The Clinton caucus had two delegates to select and the Obama caucus four. The delegates were chosen according to gender equality rules: one woman and one man for the Clinton delegates, and two women, two men for the Obama group.

Those selected come from the U.K., France, South Africa, Lebanon, the Netherlands and Germany. They represent the distinct and multi-faceted face of Democrats Abroad, but will also carry an essential element to the convention in August: the voice of the millions of Americans living abroad.

Worldwide, almost 25,000 Americans voted in this primary which for the first time allowed Democrats to vote online as well as in voting centers open from Jakarta to London. This shows that more Democrats living abroad voted in this primary than in Alaska, Idaho and North Dakota.

The next step for our party officials and the delegates is the Global Democrats Abroad Convention in Vancouver on April 11, where five more delegates will be selected, totaling (with the Democrats Abroad eight superdelegates) 22 delegates who will go to the convention.

Christine Houben is a Florida Atlantic University graduate, spends time in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. and is a resident of Paris, France. She was elected to the Executive Committee of Democrats Abroad France. She can be reached at [email protected].

Christine Houben is a FAU alumna of the class of ’98, School of Communication. She is American and French and has been elected to the Executive Committee of Democrats Abroad France for the past two years. She works as a freelance TV journalist, writing and producing science, environmental and new technology stories for French and Belgian TV (France 24, RTBF).

To contact Democrats Abroad, send an e-mail to [email protected], or go to their Web site, www.democratsabroad.org.

For voting information from abroad, go to www.votefromabroad.org.