My adventure with the Election Judge

[CoolOnion]

(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.