So, I'm Chairman of my Precinct Now.

[LibertyEagle]

Way to go, tmosley!

 

[anaconda]

Hereafter known as "Sir" tmosely. Excellent work, my friend! You are an inspiration!

 

[lupester]

With Ron Paul my wife and I were delegates....I now have added 7 more delegates in different precints to the district convention.

 

[Lymeade-Lady]

My husband and I and one other person are delegates. There were 9 seats, but I realized that we represent the 9 votes even without 9 people, so that's exciting. the other person was an election judge so was busy and not at the meeting, but the 2 of us make a majority.

 

[Elwar]

All the ones I nominated were. The others are unlikely to show up.

I think our secretary is liberty minded (she likes Ron Paul), but I didn't have time to get a detailed read on any of them.

Our little precinct got a surprising number of delegates (10). We weren't able to fill them all in.

My guess is that I will be the only one that shows up, along with one of my nominees.

My precinct also had 10 delegates in 2008. And because it had 10 delegates, I got an automatic spot as a state delegate because I was the only one there. Other precincts had to combine with other precincts to get the 10, and then vote.

State convention is fun. That's where the big stuff happens.

 

[Elwar]

Can someone explain to me what all this precinct-y stuff is about? I keep hearing talk of delegates and resolutions and all that, but I don't know what the end goal is here...

Basically each precinct has a set number of delegates based on the amount of Republican votes the last election for governor. You go to your precinct convention and vote for which people get to go to the county convention to fill those delegate slots. You can also submit resolutions that you'd like to see at your county convention.

When you get to the county convention you join up with more people and you get grouped with other precincts to fill so many delegate slots to the state convention. At the county convention you get to vote on some of those resolutions submitted at the precinct convetions (a resolution committee gets to pick and choose which resolutions move forward...you can volunteer to be on that committee). The ones that pass go on to the state convention.

At the state convention you vote on those resolutions. The resolutions are important because you can determine how you want the Republican Party to conduct themselves. Such as requiring term limits, requiring politicians to follow Party rules, any number of things. They also vote for party presidents, etc.

The most important vote, in my opinion, during the state convention is the vote for electoral officer. Each county/district votes for an electoral officer. That officer goes on to the electoral college if their party's candidate wins that state's presidential election. You sign a contract stating that you'll vote for the candidate your state chooses...but many times in history electoral votes have gone to other candidates. A few electoral votes have gone to the Libertarian Party president because of such protest votes.

The state convention also chooses delegates to go to the national convention, where they vote for national office holders and such.

Either way...the heart of the party starts at the precinct convention.

 

[undergroundrr]

For those who want to become more involved, you can volunteer to be on a committee for your upcoming senatorial district convention. You should tell your Temporary Precinct Chair in your senate district your interested. The person who was the temporary chair at last night's precinct convention should be able to get you in touch with the appropriate person.

This is a great way to pull a huge amount of influence going into the state convention. People on committees decide what resolutions get passed on, what nominees go to state, and what procedural rules the conventions follow. It will also make it more likely that you'll be able to do be a really significant force for Ron Paul in 2012.

Now that you're a delegate, your precinct chair is likely actively looking for people to serve on committees. You might find they're surprisingly enthusiastic about bringing in fresh faces. Don't be shy.