The Precinct: The Most Powerful Office. Get Involved – Elections 2/1/2011!

OK-SAFE, Inc. – By request we are re-posting a blog item from early in 2011.  We have updated the dates from 2011 to those for 2013.

It is still true – the precinct in the most powerful office in the party – will you be there?

Oklahoma – Tuesday, February 1, 2011 Thursday, February 7, 2013 is the date set for the upcoming Republican party precinct elections, aka “caucuses”.  [Note: If you live in Tulsa County, precinct meetings can be scheduled for Feb. 7th, 8th, or 9th.]

These meetings, by state party rules, are to take place in the precinct on the date designated by the state Republican party chairman.

Tulsa County GOP information: http://www.tulsagop.org/gop-files. For more State of Oklahoma GOP County List information click here.  Registered Democrats need to check here for that party’s information.

Precinct Defined

The precinct, for those who may not know, is the geographical area assigned to vote at a particular voting location;  “a subdivision of a county, town, city, or ward for election purposes.”  Each precinct is to have a committee, made up of citizens elected by other members of that precinct, to conduct the administrative affairs of the party to which they belong (Republican or Democrat, unless and until a third party gets moving in OK.)

The precinct committee is the supreme authority within the political parties.  From the OKRPRules Amended Aug. 2011, pp 4-5:

“Rule 5- Precinct Committees

(a)   Composition and Election: There shall be a Precinct Committee in each election precinct of the state. The Precinct Committee shall consist of a Precinct Chairman and a Precinct Vice Chairman, not of the same gender, a Precinct Secretary, and a Precinct Treasurer, who may be the same person, and who shall have equal right to vote at Precinct Meetings. They shall be elected at the regular biennial Precinct Meeting of the qualified Republican voters of each precinct called by the County Chairman, or as provided in these rules. The same procedure shall be followed at a regular or special meeting, in the event new precincts are created anywhere in any county of the state.

(b ) Authority and Duties: The Precinct Committee is the supreme Republican Party authority of each precinct, subject to these rules, and the direction and control of official precinct meetings. The Precinct Committee of each precinct is charged with the duty of promoting the welfare and directing the affairs of the Republican Party in its precinct. The Precinct Chairman shall be the executive officer of the precinct delegates to any county convention. The Precinct Chairman is not disqualified to be elected or appointed as a delegate pursuant to these rules. Only the Precinct Committee has the authority to remove any duly elected qualified delegate to the county convention.”

Being the most powerful committee within the political parties, the precinct is the starting place for the election of party officials, delegates to party conventions, both county and state, and the committee that will ultimately decide who the delegates are to the National Convention where the participants vote for President. (Presidential election -every four years; party elections – every two years.)

It all starts by being involved in your local precinct election/meeting on February 1, 2011.  February 7, 2013. [Known exception:Tulsa County GOP precinct meetings may be held on 2/7 , 2/8/ or 2/9, per the discretion of the precinct officers.]

Some of the articles below may help in understanding the power of the precinct and why you should participate.

1. The Most Powerful Office in the World is NOT the President of the United States Eagle Forum article: http://www.eagleforum.org/misc/brochures/precinct-committman.shtml
2. Other sources: http://theprecinctproject.wordpress.com/

Excerpt below from The Precinct Project blog – a good place to start:

“Do You Know Who Elects The Party Leaders? Did You Elect Them?

Who elects the leadership of the parties? Do you know? Are you a registered Republican? Guess what? As a “mere” registered Republican voter, without more, you DID NOT have a vote in the election of the present leadership of the Republican Party. Sorry, but those are the facts.

ONLY elected precinct committeemen get to vote for the leadership of the Party. Do I yet have your attention? Ponder the fact that ONLY elected precinct committeemen get to elect the Party leadership. Don’t you want to have a vote in those elections?

About 3,141 counties exist in the United States. Each has a county party organization. And, those county organizations almost always endorse candidates in the party primaries. And, usually, those party-endorsed candidates win. Tired of the kind of Repubican In Name Only Republicans who are winning the primaries? Then DO SOMETHING REAL and become a Republican Party precinct committeeman! Guess what? About half of the Republican Party precinct committeeman slots, nationwide, are unfilled!

Do I yet have your attention? Has the light bulb above your head clicked on yet? In some counties, like the one where I reside, Maricopa County, Arizona, within which Phoenix sits, TWO-THIRDS of the precinct committeeman slots in the Republican Party sat unfilled on Election Day, 2008. Well, it’s now January, 2010, and we’re now at 53 per cent strength instead of where we were a year ago, 31 per cent.

Spend a few moments and picture this in your mind’s eye: thousands of conservatives flock to the Republican Party and join it as precinct committeemen. And, in the next internal party elections, these conservatives (you, me and others) elect NEW, CONSERVATIVE leadership. (Or, instead, these same conservatives (me, excepted) sit behind their computer screens and put first on their priority list, instead of second, writing that next, great blog post that is going to, somehow, save the republic.)”