My adventure with the Election Judge

(Thought Criminal, you can skip this post, because I told this story last night at Scott Chase's party)!

Last night, I chaired my first Precinct Convention. We had three attendees--me, my husband, and a good neighbor, who's a loyal member of the Democratic Party.

The only problem was getting my packet from the election judge. She told me she didn't know what I was talking about, and sent one of her clerks to fumble around through all her boxes looking for what I wanted.

I told the clerk I needed the minutes and sign-in sheet. He tried to give me an Oath of Office form, but I told him that wasn't what I was looking for.

The election judge (who, by the way, is on my list of good Dems, got an invitation to my "Kickin' off 2006" party in February along with a follow-up phone call when she didn't RSVP) said she'd never heard of a Precinct Convention. She told me that she's been an election judge since 1969 and that no one has ever done anything like that. I reminded her that in 2004, the former precinct chair held the convention, and she attended it, because I remembered seeing her there. I reminded her that the former precinct chair moved away, and I'm the new precinct chair.

She asked me, "Who told you to have a precinct convention here?" I told her that I got the information from the Democratic Party, and that the precinct convention is always have it at the polling place.

As the clerk found the minutes and sign-in sheet, I heard her tell my husband, "You can't just call yourself a Precinct Chair..." and he told her she was right--you have to turn in paperwork & be sworn it, which I was.

The election judge told me that she always runs the meetings. ("Ok," I thought to myself, "Now we're getting somewhere. She's actually admitting that there's such a thing as a 'meeting.'") I told her that if she wanted to run the Precinct Convention, I would nominate her permanent chair and she could take the reins since I've never run the meeting before. She shook her head "no."

At 7:15, I invited her and the clerks to attend the Precinct Convention; the two clerks looked interested in doing it, but she told them she thought it was "illegal," so the three of them stayed away.

The three of us, who attended the convention, passed seven resolutions, voted ourselves delegates to our Senatorial District Convention, and were done by 7:30. I turned in my paperwork to the party office today, and the guy who took my paperwork was impressed that we passed seven resolutions! Well, you know what they say--the world is run by those who show up.

In hindsight, I should have made more of an effort to contact the election judge ahead of time, but I really didn't think I had to. I met her at the 2004 precinct convention that she now denies the existence of, and she's got a great voting record. In February, when I called her house to see if she could come to my party, the phone was answered by a friendly relative who said she did get the invitation and would try to come. So I thought this election judge was "in the know" about what's going on in the Democratic Party. Guess not.

I'll have another party over the summer, and we'll probably go through all of this again in November.

It's best to be just as forward and firm as you were. Congrats on your election as Senatorial Convention delegate!

You did it! Some people might have gotten discouraged and just walked away, and you stuck it out. Congratulations! Being informed and determined to take your precinct convention seriously, made you a smarter and more take charge Democrat. That's what we need.

Do it again in November and tell the clerks that should come next time. Bring your party rules to prove to them these meetings are not illegal and in fact the core of our party organization.

:dem:

Sonia

I'm used to people her age being thrilled when somebody relatively young shows up to take the reins, so it was somewhat offputting & unexpected to be stonewalled like that. But, yes, in November, I'll do it again, and maybe by that time, she'll have been on one of my "meet-n-greets" and won't have a "senior moment" when I show up at the polls.

We have the power, we have the power, we have the power!!! :headbang:

Please keep up the good work! So you're the precinct chair and she's the election judge? Did you not want to be the election judge?

When I agreed to be Precinct Chair, it was with the understanding that I didn't have to be an Election Judge also. We also really need someone in the job who speaks fluent Spanish.

No wonder our party is in disarry. Judges, who you would expect to be in the know, are clueless. The county party was very much in favor of encouraging these conventions, cuz they had two trainings on how to conduct it. Illegal my eye...

I've learned that the world of election judges, clerks, (and many precinct chairs) is a whole different world than us grassroots activists. They're leftovers from an era when Texas Democrats could afford to be lazy.

I totally agree. I had to do everything myself. We'll see how everything goes.

...from a past pct convention, I remember signing Tsongas as my presidential preference, and having the precinct chair look at me suspiciously, asking "You're going to vote for the nominee, right?" Same story when I was for Kucinich.

Now that I'M precinct chair, I hope to educate people that this is OUR party, and there is no nominee until the national Democratic convention! The media doesn't decide the nominee, WE DO!!!

(BTW, in the footnotes of County history, there's probably a note that my precinct went for Tsongas at my Senatorial District Convention, 'cause my husband and I were the only ones who showed up! And yes, we did vote for Clinton AFTER he got the nomination!)

It's tough making a tired, lazy donkey go foward, but we can do it. :)

The election judge and a few of her peers ganged up on him and said he just couldn't call himself a chair. Hello! I appointed him last year b/c the precinct had no chair when he moved from another precinct. He is a tremendous asset to his community, chairs a very large neighborhood association and personally blockwalked the 5,000 residences in the neighborhood to let them know the association was being revitalized. He also goes to City Hall every Tuesday to address the city council about the neighborhood's needs.

He was only elected a delegate and barely elected that at the convention. He doesn't think it's so important that he chair the precinct convention or serve as the permanent chair at the convention but the showdown was unexpected. Wonder if they even have a clue that he is chairing the SD convention. Ought to be a barnstormer. The old timer chairs who never GOTV in the senate district who were challenged won handily - perhaps b/c they were serving as judge?

Thank goodness our senate district chair is thick skinned and a certified parliamentarian. I thought it might be a calm convention but now I'm beginning to think we might see some fireworks.

See <http://www.caller.com/ccct/local_news/article/0,1641,CCCT_811_4523955,00.html>

A snippet



Sounds like fun!

attention to her convalescence after that stressful election day.

"is saving herself for Kinky"? I let her have it, using my best manners, of course.

If that person is a precinct chair they don't have any Dem voter history for this cycle now and are according to state law no longer an official Democrat. So technically they are no longer eligible to be a precinct chair.

And for Pete's sake! Somebody who is an election judge RUNNING the primary damn well ought to know enough about local politics to want to vote on some of the downballot races. If you're an election judge for your party, no matter how appealing the Kinkster's marketing hype may be, you need to suck it up and vote in your party's primary, period.

That's the most ridiculous thing I've heard.

house with repukes near by but I was sooo livid.

voted once in the past 12 years and that was to vote for Bush/Cheney '04?

I simply cannot understand the wingnuts who think Kinky is progressive or independent. He's just a Republican who is out-of-step with his party on issues involving criminal justice.

The liberals who consider themselves independent thinkers like his style, his music, the fact that he was a Peace Corps volunteer, his love for animals, the potsmoking thing.

Meh. It's a style thing.

I'm just sad I'm no longer living in Dallas County and can't vote for him. He's great.