The Charlottesville Democratic Committee
Early voting for the Presidential Primary is open now!
Voting Location
120 7th Street NE
City Hall Annex, Room 142
Charlottesville, VA 22902
Hours
Monday – Friday, 8:30am – 4:30pm
Saturdays – 2/24, 3/2, 8:30am – 5:00pm
Not open Monday, March 4.
More information
https://www.charlottesville.gov/431/Early-Voting
CALL TO CAUCUSThe Charlottesville Democratic Committee (“Cville Dems”) will hold an assembled caucus on Saturday, January 6, 2024, from 2:00pm-4:00pm at the Carver Recreation Center, 233 4th Street, NW, Charlottesville, VA 22902, for the sole purpose of electing precinct representatives and alternates to the 2024-2025 Charlottesville Democratic Committee, as authorized by the Charlottesville Democratic Committee Bylaws and the Democratic Party of Virginia Party Plan. The doors at Carver will open at 1:00pm and close at 2:00pm sharp so the caucus can begin (see below).
Please take a moment to go to this Facebook Event listing to indicate that you’ll be attending; we want to get a big turnout from both currently active members and newcomers, so the more RSVPs the better!!
The Charlottesville Democratic Committee shall cause to be published the time, date and location of the caucus at least seven (7) days prior to the caucus. All notices shall be published on the Democratic Party of Virginia’s website (www.vademocrats.org) as well as the website of the Charlottesville Democratic Committee (www.cvilledems.org), and a related press release shall be provided to all relevant newspapers of general circulation in the locality of Charlottesville.
Every Democrat who is a registered voter in the City of Charlottesville is urged to attend and participate. If an individual does not appear on the Registered Voter List, they will not be allowed to participate. Participants will also be required to sign a Caucus Participation Form stating that they:
The elected membership of the Charlottesville Democratic Committee is allocated among the City’s voting precincts, and the caucus participants from each precinct will elect their precinct’s representatives. The number of positions within each precinct shall be as follows: Key Recreation, 16; Clark, 13; Carver, 8; Venable, 6; Jackson-Via, 13; Johnson, 9; Buford, 8; Charlottesville High School, 17; Walker, 10.
The doors to the caucus will open at 1:00pm and close at 2:00pm sharp. Upon the closing of the doors, only those participants who have registered, or are in line to register, will be permitted to participate.
The Chair of the Charlottesville Democratic Committee or his designee shall be the Temporary Chair of the Caucus and shall appoint a Temporary Secretary and such other Temporary Officers of the Caucus as is deemed appropriate. Until the adoption of Caucus Rules, the order of the caucus shall be determined by the Chair of the Caucus, subject to the approval of the caucus participants, Robert’s Rules of Order, and the Democratic Party of Virginia Party Plan.
There is no charge to participate in the caucus. Annual dues are expected from those who are elected as precinct representatives or alternates (Bylaws Section 3.07). If payment of dues would cause hardship to a precinct representative or alternate, s/he may request a waiver from the Chair or Co-Chairs, once elected.
In the event that fewer people stand as candidates for a precinct than the number of positions in that precinct, those candidates shall be declared the winners. If there are more candidates than positions within a precinct, the candidates will be elected by a plurality of the votes of the Democrats from that precinct who are present at the assembled caucus. Vacancies may be filled by the new committee at the first meeting following the election of Officers.
It shall be the duty and goal of all members of the Charlottesville Democratic Committee to seek out and encourage the broadest possible participation within the committee, and in its membership, of all duly qualified citizens without regard to race, sex, age, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, ethnic identity, disability, or economic status.
Immediately following the adjournment of the assembled caucus, the newly formed Charlottesville Democratic Committee will meet for the sole purpose of electing the officers of the committee. All nominations will be made from the floor of the meeting (Bylaws Section 3.06).
Those interested in participating can contact the party for more information at cvilledemschair@gmail.com.
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John McLaren, Chair
Charlottesville Democratic Committee
The Executive Committee met and, after a few minutes of discussion, approved January 6, 2pm as the date and time for the biennial Reorganizational Mass Meeting (location to be announced soon). That meeting adjourned immediately and the Full Committee meeting began, with these highlights:
Jim Nix was kind enough to provide this data about the November 2023 election and a write-up from his presentation at our 11/27 meeting:
Turnout for this election was much higher than expected at 41% of active registered voters. Early voting was slow until the final week before the election but ended up almost the same as in the June primary when Election Day voting, and Early Voting were both around 4000.
The chief election officials at each precinct report turnout at 9am, 1pm, and 4pm, and experience has shown that the city-wide total at the 9am report is generally 20% of the turnout for the day with 50% voting by 1pm. We were expecting 800 by 9am, and when that report was nearly 1400, we knew that we needed to print additional ballots.
Another surprise was the high volume of same-day registrations. There were 771 provisional ballots cast, nearly all of them for same-day registration. Of these, 759 were approved, surprisingly more than the 673 in Albemarle County. Only 6 were rejected for being in the wrong precinct, a big improvement over last November when, in the first election with this option, there were 28 out of 950.
Voter registration has declined since the last presidential election, falling from over 33,000 to little more than 30,000 active voters. Registration normally peaks in Presidential election years, declining as voters move and students graduate. Voter registration must be a high priority this coming year.
With a Democratic majority in both houses of the General Assembly, no significant changes in election law are expected for the 2024 elections. There will be three elections next year: a Presidential primary March 5, a U.S. House and Senate primary June 18, and the Presidential general election November 5. Early voting in the Presidential primary will begin on January 19.
We need to recruit additional election officials, especially for the November general election. Republicans are in especially short supply, and we are required by law to ensure that both parties are represented among the election workers at each precinct.
This website is paid for by the Charlottesville Democratic Committee and is not affiliated with any office holder or candidate.