I'm trying to be a delegate in Pitt County/1st Congressional District, I have some ?'s

[eblairmorris]

How do they vote on the delegates and in what order in NC? What are the voting processes to being a delegate? I've been very confused because it seems that the process is always detailed for the caucuses, but never detailed much in the primary states. Do I sign on as a Ron Paul delegate? Or just claim no affiliation and go with the votes except in the possibility of a brokered convention?

I'm meeting with the 1st Congressional District Chair tonight, want to know my stuff beforehand.

 

[MozoVote]

To you and anyone else confused about the process:

You DON'T need to understand everything at once. Find out where the precinct meeting will be held from your county Republican party. Go to the meeting, and get your name on the party paperwork as delegate for county, district, and state convention. DO THIS and the party is REQUIRED to tell you by mail or e-mail, when and where the county convention is. That's usually in March.

In some *rare* cases, more people attend the precinct than can be delegates to the county convention. Just say OK to becoming an alternate delegate... You will almost certainly be seated at county convention anyway.

BE EARLY at the precint meeting. Even better, go there a few days beforehand and walk around so that you are sure you understand where to go. Be familiar where you can park your car, etc. It is VERY COMMON for precinct meetings to be held on schoolgrounds or local colleges, and it can be confusing figuring out which building it's in.

 

[eblairmorris]

So here is the issue that I'm having. I went tonight to the meeting of the Congressional District that I'm in (1st), but it's NOT my county, it's over an hour away from the county I live in(Pitt). The line between districts splits at the top of my county and so I'm in the 1st congressional district, they have NOTHING to do with MY county. So do I go to my COUNTY convention or my District convention to start the process of delegation? I'm so confused on this that I have no idea who to be talking to, I'm worried I'll be looking at the wrong place and miss the vote because apparently in NC, from what I understand, you can't just sign up to be a delegate on the day of the primary.

Also, at any point do I have to say I'm a RP supporter, or can I just claim I'm undecided? I understand that people won't be willing to vote for me as a delegate if they know I'm a RP supporter due to bias.

 

[MozoVote]

All the precinct meeting is really about, is for the party to collect contact information on potential volunteers during the campaign season. They don't care which presidential candidates you support. In some of the other states, people go to precinct meetings and make speeches... get "elected".. etc. North Carolina doesn't have any real politicking going on at the precinct level.

Anyway, the county contacts are here:

http://www.ncgop.org/sample-page/ncgop-in-my-county/

It is the *counties* that hold these meetings. (There may be some confusion because of redistricting.)

You could also try asking questions of the executive committee for the 1st or 3rd congressional districts. Somebody will know somebody else, that can put you in contact with the Pitt County GOP.

But yes, get on the ball. The precinct meetings are held during February and the first two weeks of March.

 

[eblairmorris]

Well it seems that the precinct meetings are just combined with the county meeting because we don't have enough people, so the first meeting is the county meeting in March, then I'm supposing I have to go up to the district meeting from there.

My question, will I need to bring someone to nominate me or vote for me as a delegate at the county convention?

 

[gerryb]

My question, will I need to bring someone to nominate me or vote for me as a delegate at the county convention?

You will want to bring as many registered republicans as you can, so you get more votes if there are multiple people vying for the same position.

 

[MozoVote]

My question, will I need to bring someone to nominate me or vote for me as a delegate at the county convention?

In most counties, you walk up to the table with your precinct number, ask for the paperwork to become a delegate. Sign your name and give your contact information. It's that simple.

You don't bring friends to nominate you. You bring them, to snag the rest ofthe delegate spots!

Technically the county convention is a separate "meeting" and convenes after the precinct meetings. Same day, in your case.

What will happen is somebody will stand and make a motion "All present here today shall be nominated as delegates to the district and state convention". Everyone says "AYEEE!!" in unison. Bam. You're delegatized.

 

[nc4rp]

I just sent a PM but i see you have a thread here. Its the county convention you need to attend (or as noted above some precincts have a convention and delegate process must start there first FIND OUT HOW YOURS WORKS) Every county has its own rules.

My precincts didn't meet, we just all converged to the county convention and i signed the delegate sheet. but i seem to remember my girlfriend and i had to vote for the other as delegate- not sure, so make sure that if you do have to be voted for, and its not just a sign-up, that you have a republican there to vote at least, not to mention if you have multiple people vying for the delegate position that multiple votes could make the difference of winning the spot. Ours only had about half the allotted delegate slots filled so we ended up with empty delegate positions was liek 25 slots and only like 12 people signed up to be delegates.

As for voting for who you are elected to vote for, it shoudln't be a problem in NC, but in case you do get stuck, then honor that if it ends up that way.

HOWEVER>
My question is if you do get stuck as a Romney delegate at your county level, then at the State convention do you get to choose the delegate you vote for? such as if by chance i get stuck as a Romney delegate in my County convention, can my state vote be for another Ron Paul delegate who had to Pledge for Romney? so if a brokered national convention occurs then MY state vote elected a national delegate who when released in a brokered convention will vote for Dr Paul.

QUESTION>
Anyone have an answer for what round however many NC delegates are released to vote their conscience?

Its important to know this stuff i think. Anyone have an answer for these?

 

[MozoVote]

I'd like to not derail things too much, talking about state convention and how that works. Some of the national delegates are chosen at district convention, and some at state. The ones elected at state will be from a slate suggested to the state central committee by each campaign based on their percentages of votes in the primary.

Assuming the state comittee plays fair, the national delegates should be acceptable to the convention as a whole, and will be elected by accliamation. There was some acrominy in 2008 over who the state comittee's Paul choices were, but not enough to cause a floor fight.

Focus on county and district for now. That's where the game is at this stage.

 

[slacker921]

Like the others have said, focus on the precinct and county conventions for now.

But... I would add.. try to get some friends to go with you through to the district convention. If you're a good speaker and have enough friends with you AND there aren't enough party regulars who want to go to the national convention then you MIGHT have a shot at getting one of those slots. It's highly unlikely, but if you don't have some friends there to vote for you then it's even more unlikely. Your friends will also see how the process works and it's a real eye opener to go to your district convention and see them select delegates who will go on to the national convention -- that small room of people has almost as much selection power as all the voters in your district combined.

Also, going to the national convention is expensive.. as in $1,500 or so. You and your friends might not get you sent to the national convention, but your presence at the district convention might be enough to send another Paul supporter to the national convention. At my district convention in '08 we could have sent a Paul supporter to the national convention if we just had a few more voters. ...

As for how they select the delegates at the district convention - in my district each candidate got up and gave a short speech and declared who they would support at the national convention. There were lots of "Even though he wasn't even my fourth choice I would still support McCain" people. I heard that in other districts they didn't have to state who they would vote for...

 

[MozoVote]

Yes there is some variation. In some districts they declared before the vote, some after, some never did. But 2008 was "almost uncontested" - so especially when all 3 people were party regulars, there was no reason to ask.

There are two fresh dynamics this time. We could have a true contested primary this year. And we've had redistricting, which scrambles alliances. I have wondered how the libertarian GOP in Asheville will meld with the new tenth district, for example.

 

[eblairmorris]

I have the strange problem that my District is very different from the other 90% of my county, and the majority of the Ron Paul supporters I've rallied won't be able to vote for me at the District convention (at least I don't believe so) because they're registered for the 3rd District while I'm stuck in the 1st.

It starts at the county first though, right? Do I "move" to the district if I get the delegate spot, then get voted on again? Or do I start the process over?

 

[MozoVote]

First district is Butterfield's. That's a huge area. You could try and contact the Paul people off the FEC website, or visit the various county conventions in Northeast NC as events unfold in March.

If you are a total N00B at this, don't bother trying to become a national delegate on this go-round. You need to realize these elections are more like "high school" or a family reunion. Almost all long-time GOP people. So if you cannot talk about your service to the party and how much help you have been to Republican candidates in the past - you will lose.

I'd say go to the district convention to understand how it plays out. Then show up at state and help add to our numbers there. We have had some incremental wins at state, turning the ship a few degrees each year. We really need every vote there to keep the party bigwigs on their toes.

 

[eblairmorris]

I understand that it's a Good Ol' Boy Network, but I'm not letting that deter me from trying to be a delegate. If I don't make it, my votes go to the next delegate that is a Ron Paul supporter. Giving up because it's "their game" is the kind of mentality that makes us lose before we even try. The only way to change the GOP is to do it from within and with as much passion and support as possible, giving up because you're not "one of them" seems like a cop-out to me. No disrespect meant.

Now the think I do wonder about is that if I don't have a reasonable chance at being a delegate, if dropping from it and supporting another will help more. That's the important factor. I can either encourage people in our local meetup I've started to attempt to BE delegates, or to find one that we all can back helping them win the spot.

And I do want to say that I've been attending all county meetings and district meetings in both 3rd and 1st, and getting my face out there as much as possible. Most are very happy to see young voters getting into the process, I'm 22 and a Computer Science Graduate, my main selling point on anything is that I represent the youth vote needed to refresh their party. They seem to like this idea a lot.

 

[MozoVote]

You may have a decent shot, if they've met you before. I just want people who read these threads for the first time to understand, that you cannot just throw your hat in the ring, and think you'll give a great speech at district convention that "wins them over".

What we were told in 2008 is that becoming a national delegate is an "honor". North Carolina has held it's primary in May for so long, the party honchos would shrug off the idea that delegates should go to campaign activists.

Instead... delegate spots are handed out to the various chairs, as political plums. It's been that way for decades because in most election cycles, the outcome is all baked in before NC votes anyway, and the campaigns have fizzled out.

 

[eblairmorris]

I've been doing well in that I've had multiple face-to-face encounters with the heads of the first and third district chairmen, and I was surprised to find that they're both fantastic, fair, unbiased people. I've had a very warm welcome into the party meetings and have even been asked to do some side work in my district. Of course, I'm not beating out the 50+ year old heads of their counties, but I'm not getting shunned by those who are running the show. If I had been attending for a longer time it would have put me in a better spot though, still I'm now officially "That young guy who's been attending every meeting and knows the chairman"

I've actually really enjoyed it, the two chairmen i know stay VERY unbiased and keep things fair. The usual disconcern is the older folks that are very discriminatory and essentially just throw out inflammatory and derogatory comments onto people that aren't there to defend them. It's something I expected more of so I'm not horribly disappointed, and I feel like I'm generally being accepted as a valid voice and a representative of the youth in the 1st district. They literally have NO OTHERS to represent anyone under the age of 35 it seems. Getting to the RNC would be a huge honor, and I think I could get past the district, but I'm not so sure about the state.

 

[MozoVote]

If you win district, you're in. Period. All the state convention decides is who the remaining national delegates will be, and who-is-bound-for-whom on the first round of presidential balloting at the National convention.

In theory, the primary could make state convention difficult. The proportion of national delegates elected at district during April, will probably not match the primary results in May very well. Then we need to sort it all out at state convention in June when the remaining delegates are selected.

THAT is why we must have every Paul-minded local delegate attending the state convention. It's an insurance policy that the state party obeys it's own rules and NC election law when everyone approves the final slate that goes to Tampa.