Belated but no less sincere thanks to those who responded so eagerly to our first post announcing the Democratic Precinct Organizing group here at Daily Kos.
Like so many of you, I am squeezing in my organizing time around a full-time job and extensive responsibilities to myself and my family. These past two weeks have been busier than usual for me due to two Saturdays in a row consumed by all-day Democratic Party meetings, first the DNC Future Forum and then the MDP Spring Convention. They were both interesting and successful events, but they do take time that is then not available for other tasks, and some obligations simply cannot be postponed.
Now that I am on the other side of these and of several related local Dem meetings and tasks, I’m interested in making some more headway with this group. It’s clear already, at least to me, that it will need to be a team effort, because I’m at capacity or very close to it as it is. Hence the poll at the foot of this post to ask what you think the next installment of our group posts should address — with an open invitation to those who are reading this and who are members of this group to volunteer to write it. Let me hasten to say that I imagine all of you feel similarly pressured these days! Our hope is that sharing the writing load will make some of the logistical aspects of organizing a little easier to address.
For this post, I’d like to promote some discussion about how Precinct Delegates function in your state. How are they chosen? What do they do? To whom are they accountable? How do they fit into the organizational structure of your own state Dem Party? All of these do seem to vary considerably from state to state, and we’ll do better if we have some sort of common vocabulary and understanding of our respective processes.
I’ll prime the pump by describing some of our process in Michigan. Please join me below.
Here the title for the people who are elected at the precinct level, the smallest entity of government, is Precinct Delegate. The elections for them take place in even years during the August primary; people can get on the ballot by filing an Affidavit of Identity a couple of months in advance, or by submitting a Declaration of Intent to run as a write-in, even as late as the day of the election. To be eligible to run, a candidate must be qualified and registered to vote and also living within the precinct he or she wishes to represent. Precinct Delegates may hold other elected offices (and in fact here in Washtenaw we have a county commissioner and two members of the state House as Precinct Delegates, along with several other people who hold local office).
In Michigan, Precinct Delegates are considered to be part of the foundation of the party. All the same, their specific official duties, along with their privileges, are few. The Michigan Democratic Party bylaws describe their duties thus:
All precinct delegates will be delegates to all County and/or District Conventions during their term of office. In their precinct, delegates shall register Democrats to vote, identify other Democrats and recruit new State Party members, take information on issues and candidates to voters, help turn out the vote on Election Day and keep Party leaders informed about the issues which concern voters.
And what do they get for their troubles? Not much; the most significant perk is that the usual 30-day waiting period between becoming a member of the MDP and voting eligibility is waived.
However, an unusual circumstance arose this past summer in metro Detroit. The only Democratic candidate for a state House seat, Julia Plawecki, died before the primary. Since she was the only candidate on the ballot (and presumably also because there was enough time to make a change), Michigan law assigned the task of naming a replacement candidate to the Precinct Delegates in her house district. (Side note: The outcome of this process was to nominate Jewell Jones, a young man at that point serving on the Inkster City Council, for the full term. He won handily in the general election and thus at the age of 21 he became the youngest member ever elected to our state House. Rep. Jones is definitely someone to watch, as this early report makes clear.)
Once Precinct Delegates are elected, then it falls on the county Democratic Parties, the Congressional Districts, and other local entities to train, organize, and deploy them. We have an interesting case in Michigan, since Wayne County (unlike all other counties in the state) does not have a county party. Instead, the thousands of delegates from Detroit and the rest of Wayne County are dispersed among their Congressional Districts. There is a strong grassroots initiative to organize Detroit delegates in particular, United Precinct Delegates, and we will be collaborating with them as much as possible to take the methods and the message statewide.
If an elected Precinct Delegate doesn’t do anything to organize in their precinct, there’s unfortunately no recourse except to wait for the next election and hope that someone will challenge the current one in office. So far, our Precinct Delegate slots are not generally contested races. It’s quite possible to win in most precincts with a single vote — the candidate’s own.
I’m eager to hear from others about what your comparable party officials are called and what they do. It’s quite possible that there is not an exact match between the name and duties of the activists on the ground where you are and our Precinct Delegates in Michigan, but it would be a good idea to find that out!
Please take a moment as well to reflect on the contents of the poll. Volunteer posters welcome!
From our debut post two weeks ago to introduce the Democratic Precinct Organizing group at Daily Kos:
We invite *current precinct delegates/precinct captains,* along with those who work on committees devoted to precinct operations, and those who are entrusted with this area of responsibility on their county Democratic Party board, to step forward and join us. If you have an interest in these party-building roles but no experience yet, we welcome you to follow the group, so that you can participate in the dialogue when we publish posts.
[We have a bunch of group invitations to issue already — no later than this weekend, if all goes as planned. Thanks for your patience and understanding.]