Preparing for your Precinct Convention

Tuesday, March 4, 2008, 7:30 PM

At the site of your voting poll

A bi-partisan article by D. A. Sharpe, Aurora, TX

1. Helping voters to be effective in their Precinct Convention is the goal of this article. The Precinct Convention is at the end of the Primary Election Day, held in the voting poll. In order to be a legitimate participant in a Precinct Convention, you must have cast a vote in the Primary Election of that day (or have voted early for that election), and you must be in the Precinct Convention in which you are a registered voter. Most voters have never attended a Precinct Convention, but you are urged to consider this important step in the political process from your grass roots.

2. The Temporary Chairman of the Precinct Convention is the person determined in advance to open and conduct the meeting until the gathered qualified participants can elect its own Permanent Chairman and officers for the rest of the Convention. Usually the Temporary Chairman is the Precinct Chairman or, in the absence of a Precinct Chairman, it is the Election Judge of that Precinct. Usually the Temporary Chairman and other Temporary Officers appointed early by the Temporary Chairman are re-elected as the Permanent Officers for the Convention. The other Temporary Officers are the Secretary (who checks that participants are eligible and takes the minutes of the meeting) and the Temporary Sergeant of Arms (who makes physical arrangements for the meeting and keeps order).

3. Learn who your Precinct Chairman is, or who ever will be the Temporary Chairman. You can learn this by calling the County Chairman of the Political Party in which you wish to participate. Try to meet in person or by phone call to sense whether he or she is of kindred political sprit with you. You probably do not need to plan to have a candidate to be elected the Permanent Chairman to replace the Temporary Chairman. However, if you sense that the Temporary Chairman may not be helpful to the causes or delegates you wish to support, you need to work on getting enough of your like-thinking friends to participate in the Precinct Convention, prepared to know what you want them to support.

4. Precinct Chairman (Temporary Chairmen in most cases) may be discovered by visiting the State Headquarters web site of the Political Party in which you are interested. In Texas, only the Democratic and Republican Parties hold Precinct Conventions on March 4, 2008. Here are the web locations for county chairmen. It is they who you need to phone to learn who your Precinct Chairman is and how to contact him or her.

Republican: http://www.texasgop.org/site/PageServer?pagename=leadership_cc

Democratic: http://tdp.virtual.polycot.com/about/leadership/county/

5. The Precinct Convention basically does three things. It elects its Permanent Officers, it elects Delegates and Alternate Delegates to the County Convention of March 29, 2008 in the second floor court room of the Wise County Court House in Decatur (Republicans at 9:00 AM and Democrats at 11:00 AM). The third thing it does is to consider any resolutions the Convention attendees offer to forward to the County Convention.
   
   
6. Call the Precinct Convention to order promptly at 7:30 PM. This is according to Texas Election Code. If the Temporary Convention Chairman does not step up to call it to order, then anybody else qualified to be a delegate in the Convention may do so and begin the meeting. If the Temporary Chairman is the Election Judge who has not quite completed the accounting to close out the voting precinct paperwork, he or she should pause in that work, call the Convention to order at 7:30 PM, then immediately call a recess until the election administration is completed. Then reconvene the Convention.
   
   
7. Resolutions are statements that are desired by a delegate to become a part of the Party Platform of the Republican Party of Texas. Such a statement from a Precinct Convention goes to the County Convention. At the County Convention, it is considered and that Convention votes on whether or not to forward it to the State Convention for consideration. Realize that there are many resolutions offered in the system that really are duplicates, and that many more are offered than ultimately are adopted. However, this is how the grass roots appears in the process of the Party personality.
   
   A resolution usually is in the form of a series of statements beginning with the words, “Whereas, xxxxx.” The whereas statement is citing the conditions that seem evident for the resolution. The last statement would be, “Be it resolved that XXXXX.” The resolved part of the resolution is what would be desired to appear in the party platform. Often it is in the form of stating that the Party should support the idea of entering legislation that would provide the action you describe. An example would be, “Be is resolved that the XXXXX Party of Texas advocate that all school children be provided free ice cream cones after school each weekday.” (I hope you know that was a joke!)
   
   
8. The Precinct Convention should be able to conclude its business within 30 minutes or so. It should not be allowed to drag on longer than necessary, as people are tired from a long day and want to get on home. Precinct Convention Chairmen should not allow endless debate on an issue, but rather see to it that a vote is taken soon after a reasonable amount of debate is heard to air the pros an cons of an issue.

In Wise County, the two County Chairmen to contact are:

Patricia Wheeler, Chairman of the Wise County Democratic Party 940-627-7976

Allen Williamson, Chairman of the Wise County Republican Party 940-627-8308

9. The election of delegates (and alternate delegates) to the County Convention is the first important action taken after voting for Permanent Officers. The County Conventions statewide are Saturday, March 29, 2008. In some more populous counties, Senatorial Conventions are held. There may be several such conventions within a county, or some may even cross county lines. For specific location information, phone the County Chairman of the Political Party in which you are interested. Find out from the County Chairman OR the Precinct Chairman how many delegates your precinct may send to the County (or Senatorial District) Convention. It is a number derived by taking the number of votes cast for the gubernatorial candidate of that party in the last (2006) gubernatorial election in that precinct, divided by 25. Most precincts will have anywhere from 1 to 12 delegates and a same number of alternate delegates. Married couples may be elected.

10. Getting your delegates elected: Unfortunately, most precinct conventions are poorly attended and often only a handful of people come. Therefore, if you recruit 6 or 12 friends qualified to participate in the convention, you may have a majority or certainly a weighted advantage. It’s important that those friends understand that you desire that they support the delegates you wish to have proposed. Though it is permissible to nominate a slate of people, it may be better to have various participants nominate individuals. It is good that your and your friends sit scattered out and not appear to be a block voting contingent (even though you may be). The reason is that whatever you advocate, probably you need to be convincing enough to sway the votes of others present who are not in your block. People sometime resist the presence of a block and the very appearance of such can work against you.

11. Nominating your delegate(s): When the Chairman indicates the floor is open for delegate nominations, rise and stand for recognition. When recognized by the Chairman, say, “Madam Chairman (or Mr.), I wish to nominate (name of nominee) as a delegate to the County (or Senatorial) Convention. He (or she) would be a good representative of our precinct, because of his (or her) experience at (whatever you consider gives merit to your nominee as a delegate).” Have a friend poised to “second” your motion. You do not want a nomination to fail for the lack of a second.

12. Resolutions to offer: Resolutions generally are ideas to send up the organizational ladder to the County (or Senatorial) Convention, hoping that it will forward the idea on to the State Convention of the Party. Sometimes complimentary resolutions are offered that commend some cause or person. However, many believe there are better places to honor such, and that the resolutions in precinct conventions should concentrate on issues that are hoped to evolve into the platforms of the respective State Party and National Party.

13. Present your Resolution: It should be in written. Often the Chairman will require three copies, so come prepared to give three copies. There’s no set form for a resolution, but guidelines are offered here. First, give some reasons that the proposed action is needed. Cite statistics or other documented facts that cause the need. These are usually the “whereas” series of statements prefacing a resolution. Second, the idea is usually a “therefore, be it resolved that ….” Section describes the policy or action you hope the State Party or the State Legislature or Congress will take to remedy the problems cited in the “whereas” statements. Lastly, you may need a “Justification” section that cites the benefits of taking the action of your resolution.

14. Speak to your resolution: When the Chairman indicates the time for Resolutions is open to the floor, rise and stand, waiting to be recognized. When recognized, say, “Mr. Chairman (or Madam), I wish to make a motion to offer this resolution about (name the subject) for the consideration of the County (or Senatorial) Convention. If seconded, I would like to speak to the matter after it is read. May I read it to the convention?” The chairman should permit your reading and you do just that. Practice reading out loud ahead of time. Have a friend listen to you and help you with honing your pronunciation. Speak clearly and at a volume that all of the convention can hear you easily. Sometimes it is good to walk to the front of the convention area, near the Chairman and to speak facing the convention. The size of the convention governs whether this is necessary or whether speaking from where you sit is adequate.

15. Multiple Resolutions: It is good for you only to have one resolution for the precinct convention participants to consider. People get weary when they see a participant offering up 6 or 8 resolutions, many of which are just chasing little red wagons! Be considerate in determining the number of resolutions you wish to promote. One to three should be a happy medium of a limit. Assuming you do the good work of getting other friends to attend, have each resolution presented by a separate person. So not let the resolutions all be in the same typed format, etc. Make them look different in format, which deflects the notion that they are all coming from a boilerplate generation of resolutions.

16. Be a good convention member: Even if you are there to “take over” or to influence the outcome of the convention, give all appearance of being a team player and someone who is seeking joyfully the good of the citizenry. Avoid appearing contentious, if at all possible. Be winsome and not irritating and challenging.