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The Charlottesville Democratic Committee

Meetings

10/23/23 Executive Committee Meeting (Zoom only)

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Six cartoonish (faceless) people sitting around a meeting tableThe Executive Committee will meet Monday, October 23, at 6:30 PM via Zoom (link to be sent out before the meeting). The only agenda item at present is last-minute election planning (e.g. promoting the last week of early voting, possibly via a “Donut Forget to vote” mini-event and getting the word out about the importance of turnout for Creigh Deeds and other local elections we’ve been actively helping).

Note: The next Full Committee meeting will be on Monday 11/27 (Thanksgiving is 11/23). To suggest something to add to the agenda, please email cvilledemschair@gmail.com .

Winning in the November 7 Local Elections: Thursdays 4-7pm at Ix Art Park

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Poster using a wide variety of different letter and background colors used with the words "Turn out the Vote Thursdays phone bank grab a bite at a food truck write postcards to voters"We’ll be meeting every Thursday 4-7pm for “Turn Out the Vote Thursdays” at the Ix Art Park on the Brazos Tacos lawn, weather permitting. Come when and for how long your schedule and mood dictate; it needn’t be every week or the entire three hours! This week we’ll be writing postcards to newly registered City and County voters; if you can, bring a chair to sit on and a clipboard or something similar to write on.

There are lots of different ways to help over the next few months, do what’s most comfortable for you: door knocking, phone calling, voter registration, postcard writing, etc. For questions, please contact Mary Ann Harris: harrisma49@gmail.com .

For the past three years, we’ve been fortunate to have so many dedicated people join us at Ix Art Park to eat, drink, chat, and pitch in together to help our Democratic candidates win. In 2022, we had 100+ volunteers who attended at least one time, with many attending almost every week. If you’ve joined us before, please join us again. If you haven’t tried it yet, come on down and meet fellow Dems and enjoy yourself while working for a big win on November 7!

Mary Ann Harris, Nancy Damon, Suzanne Michels, Noemi Paz, and John Shepherd have been planning goals and volunteer opportunities to help hold the Senate and win back control of the House of Delegates! As in the previous years, the group will be:

  • Writing postcards and making follow-up phone calls to newly registered voters. That combination has been very successful, resulting in this group voting at a consistent 75-80% rate in 2021-2023.
  • Distributing “walk sheet” name and address lists of Dem-leaning people for our campaign canvassers to visit.
  • Sending some specific issue-message postcards (a new idea we’re considering).
  • Writing postcards and phoning Albemarle residents we’ve registered.
  • Writing postcards and phoning for campaigns near Charlottesville.

8/2 Executive Committee Meeting (Wednesday, not Monday!)

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Six cartoonish (faceless) people sitting around a meeting table

Due to scheduling conflicts, we won’t have our regularly scheduled July 24 Full Committee meeting; instead, there’ll be an Executive Committee meeting on Wednesday, August 2, 6:30pm at Rives Park. The agenda includes:

  • plans for this year’s “Turn Out the Vote” (Thursdays at Ix Art Park, see below)
  • Summer Bash and Summer Picnic wrap-ups
  • discussion of Primary results

If you have any topics to add to the agenda, please let John know: cvilledemschair@gmail.com

“Turn-Out-the-Vote Thursdays” Resumes 8/10!

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Poster using a wide variety of different letter and background colors used with the words "Turn out the Vote Thursdays phone bank grab a bite at a food truck write postcards to voters"Turn-Out-the-Vote Thursdays will resume on Thursday, August 10, 4-7pm, on the grass at Ix Art Park. It’s a friendly group, with plenty of time to chat and catch up while we work, and we’ve added the extra hour (4pm start) to accommodate as many people’s schedules as possible.

Mary Ann Harris, Nancy Damon, Suzanne Michels, Noemi Paz, and John Shepherd have been planning goals and volunteer opportunities for November’s election (less than four months away!).

As in the previous election cycles, the group will be:

  • Writing postcards and making follow-up phone calls to the newly Charlottesville registered voters signed up by our Voter Registration Team. That combination has been very successful, resulting in voting at an 80% rate in 2020 and 2022, and at a 75% rate in 2021.
  • Distributing “walk sheet” name and address lists of Dem-leaning people for our campaign canvassers to visit.
  • Sending some specific issue-message postcards (a new idea we’re considering).
  • Writing postcards and phoning Albemarle residents we’ve registered.
  • Writing postcards and phoning for campaigns near Charlottesville; we really want to win control of the House of Delegates and hold the Senate!
  • Perhaps organizing a canvassing trip or two!

Consider one or more of these options and hopefully join in on whichever one(s) sound good to you!

Please contact Mary Ann Harris with any questions: harrisma49@gmail.com

REPORT: Full Committee Meeting (5/22/23)

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Six cartoonish (faceless) people sitting around a meeting table

The Full Committee met at the Forest Hills Park’s picnic shelter. The highlights:
1) A number of candidates came early to meet and chat with members pre-meeting: Dave Norris, Bellamy Brown, Katrina Callsen (House of Delegates candidates), Michael Payne, Lloyd Snook (City Council candidates), and Amanda Burns (School Board candidate).
2) We had a quorum and were able to approve two bylaws changes necessitated by the City’s changed precinct lines (see last issue for explanation). Thanks to Dave Chapman and Erin Monaghan for crafting the approved amendments.
3) Jason’s Treasurer’s Report focused on our June 2 Summer Bash Fundraiser (more above!). Lynlee Thorne, Rural GroundGame’s Political Director, will be the guest speaker. So far, we’ve received or have pledges for $12,000, getting close to our current $13,000 goal. To purchase tickets, donate, or get more event info, please go to https://secure.actblue.com/donate/2023summerbash .
4) The voter registration team continues to do registrations and rights restorations at IX Park (Saturday mornings) and other locations (see below).
5)Jim Nix reported that the City Registrar’s data shows early voting turnout is good: 670 votes already cast and over 1,500 mail ballots sent out.
6) Date and location of our Charlottesville City Council Candidates Forum (held last night at Buford) was announced. We noted the 6/4 Martha Jefferson Neighborhood Assoc. candidates forum (see calendar above).
7) For our Monday June 26 picnic with the Albemarle County Dems we just have to organize a few games (see below).
8) The 5th District Dems hosted a summit for all committee chairs on April 29, focusing on committees that are operating in a “sea of red”. The 5th District’s Fall Extravaganza is scheduled for September 30 at the University of Lynchburg.
9) The Democratic Party of Virginia (DPVA) will hold its annual fundraiser on Friday 6/23 in Richmond. Rep. Bennie Thompson (of January 6 Commission fame!) and Paul Begala are announced speakers. For info and tickets go to bluecommonwealthgala.com .
10) DPVA has determined that the party will use conventions to select delegates for the 2024 Democratic National Convention, so we can look forward to local committee caucuses next year!

Full Committee Meeting (Monday 5/22 at Forest Park, unusual 6pm start)

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Six cartoonish (faceless) people sitting around a meeting tableOn Monday May 22 the Full Committee will meet, weather permitting, at the Forest Hills Park picnic shelter, 1000 Forest Hills Park Ave., starting at 6pm; the unusual start time gives primary candidates a final Full Committee opportunity to informally meet and chat with members before the primary. Please bring your own chair and an extra if possible. If rain (or snow!) is forecast, we’ll email everyone to switch to Zoom.
Tentative agenda item highlights (after the candidate time ends):
  1. Assuming we can get a quorum (so please attend if you can!!), vote to amend our bylaws to reflect precinct redistricting necessitated by the 2020 census (details in last month’s newsletter). The proposed amendment language, with full explanation, is here.
  2. Volunteers will be needed to staff current polling places and the two old polling places (Alumni Hall and Tonsler) on Primary Day to answer voters’ questions and thank them for coming out to vote.
  3. June 2 Summer Bash Fundraiser report (see below).
  4. Charlottesville City Council Candidate forum on May 24 (see below).
  5. June 26 picnic with Albemarle Dems (see below).
  6. Zoning info forum (see below).
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