Cville Dems

The Charlottesville Democratic Committee

News

Congratulations, Cville Dems – You Met the Mark!

Posted on

Stylized graphic with Multicolored capital letters spelling out "SUMMER" + Brown capital letters spelling out "BASH"(both mounted on a wood plank backing). The plank is set on top of a summer floral arrangement.Thank you everyone who planned, participated in, supported, and/or attended our Summer Bash!

The third annual Summer Bash brought Cville Dems over its desired fundraising goal of $20,000 by about $2,000 – and perhaps as much as $4,000 once the Silent Auction proceeds are tallied.

 

2 women volunteers sit behind a table with stacked up T-Shirts for sale. The black T-shirts have the words "Love" in light pink and "Vote" in dark blue.Our “Love Vote” T-shirts (pictured below and designed by Kate Damon of DC SparkleSquad) are still on sale for $25, with $10 from each sale going to us to help fund our campaign work and hiring interns (various duties to support the campaigns,  canvasses, and all our other volunteer efforts in this critical election year!).

If you’d still like to participate in some of the auction fun, there’s space for you at  movie nights at the home of Fred and Nancy Damon; contact Nancy at nancycdamon@gmail.com.

More photos from the event are below:

 

 

Gloria Tinsley Witt, wearing jeans and a floral shirt, chats with attendees seated near the Silent Auction Tent at the 2024 Summer Bash.   Lots of Cville Dems line up at the greeting and registration table as the Summer Bash begins. They are under a leafy tree on a pretty evening.   Gary Terry stands in front of a microphone near a table of Cville Dems dinners at Summer Bash 2024. A Biden Harris campaign sign is just behind him.   Paul Riley stands in front of a microphone addressing a group of diners at the Summer Bash 2024. A Biden Harris campaign sign is just behind him.

Post-Election Summary Data from the Electoral Board

Posted on

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:

Spreadsheet screenshot showing each precinct and the percentages of registered voters and when they votedSpreadsheet screenshot showing each precinct and the percentages of registered voters and when they voted

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.

REPORT: Senator Mark Warner’s 10/28 GOTV Visit

Posted on

Senator Mark Warner speaking to a crowd of Charlottesville and Albemarle County Dems on Sunday October 28 2023 at a Pen Park get-out-the-vote pre-canvass lunchLast weekend the Albemarle Dems hosted a Sunday pre-canvass get-out-the-vote (GOTV) event at Pen Park with Sen. Mark Warner as guest speaker. The Senator was in fine form, flagging the many ways that Democratic policies over the past few years have benefitted Virginians:

  • Preserving abortion and reproductive rights
  • Infrastructure improvements under Biden (massive job-creating investments)
  • Internet access for more people
  • Efforts to address climate change and Environmental protection
  • Democracy and rule of law (our election systems and Justice Dept withstood Trump’s/Republicans’ lawlessness)

All this progress (and more!) disappears if we lose our razor-thin majority in the Senate; Creigh Deeds’ seat is critical!

Roughly 90 Dems came out to hear his inspiring remarks; they asked questions, took pictures, and then went out to hit lots of doors in the canvass afterwards. Buoyed by the nice weather and provided lunch, spirits and energy were high! Thank you Albemarle Dems chair Karen Combs for organizing this great gathering.

 

Crowd of Charlottesville and Albemarle County Dems on Sunday October 28 2023 listening to Senator Mark Warner at a Pen Park get-out-the-vote pre-canvass lunch

2nd Annual Summer Bash Fundraiser is just Days Away!

Posted on

The 2023 Summer Bash, our annual fundraiser, will be an outdoor event with Lynlee Thorne, Political Director of Rural GroundGame, as our guest speaker. Last year we had a great time, and having the event right before the June 20 primary also gives us the perfect chance to chat with our City Council, House of Delegates, and State Senate candidates.

1-panel Cartoon showing a young white boy and young black boy standing behind a table labeled "Fundraiser". The black child is holding up a sign reading "HELP"

Date: Friday, June 2
Time: 6-8pm
Cost (includes dinner!): $25 per person (only $15 if this is your very first Bash!)
Location: on the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center (JSAAHC) lawn, 233 4th St. NW
Food: fried chicken or vegetarian dinner options.
Event sponsorships by our members are our main source of funding for everything we do: supporting campaigns, writing to newly registered voters, providing scholarships, and generally encouraging people to exercise their rights as citizens.
There’s still time to be a sponsor, at a level of your choice:
  • $100 or $250 (both include 2 dinner tickets)
  • $500 (includes 4 dinner tickets)
You can also buy two tickets and bring a friend…or bring your whole precinct! And you can always donate purchased tickets so some newcomers can afford to come (e.g. if you’ll be out of town or just want to treat it as a donation).
Our speaker, Lynlee Thorne, lives in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley on a small farm with her 2 young children and a menagerie of livestock. She has served as Chair of her local Democratic Committee and as campaign staff for multiple local and statewide campaigns over the past 5 years, including multiple statewide coordinated campaigns and local races. Both farming and being a rural Democrat require a long-term commitment to hard work, perseverance, and cultivation of resilient communities, which Lynlee brings to her work with Rural GroundGame.

Images of two pieces of fried chickenGraphic showing the word VEGEGARIAN surrounded by a dozen or so colorful vegetables

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

Posted on

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).