Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all… some cartoons to enjoy on Christmas Eve!
January 6 Reorganization Meeting: Opportunities for New People with New Ideas!
Our every-other-year election meeting (“Reorganizational Mass Meeting”) will be on January 6 at 2pm at Carver Recreation Center (the doors open at 1pm and participants must be seated before the doors are closed and locked at 2pm). Here’s what we’ll be doing there:
- Elect precinct representatives, who then choose a chair or co-chairs for each precinct.
- The just-elected precinct representatives and ex officio members, who together make up the Charlottesville Democratic Committee (usually referred to as “the Full Committee”), then elect the following Executive Officers for two-year terms: Chair (or Co-Chairs), Vice Chair, Secretary, and Treasurer.
Jason Vandever (Treasurer) and Nancy Damon (Vice Chair) have agreed to continue in their roles, but John McLaren (Chair) and Mary Ann Harris (Secretary) will be stepping down from those roles (but staying involved!) when their terms expire. Layperson descriptions of these various offices are here; descriptions of the precinct roles (and officer roles) are in our bylaws. Dan Doernberg (Communications Chair, an appointed position) is also stepping down at the end of his term.
These “changing of the guard” elections are critically important for every organization, including ours; it’s always important to have fresh faces and new ideas in the leadership mix.
To put it bluntly, we need you! We all know that the 2024 election will be a struggle for the future of this country. If we don’t grow the party (bring in new people with new energy and ideas), we’ll have to live with a re-elected President Trump and more MAGA extremists in all branches of government. If that’s not an acceptable future to you, then please rise to the challenge and play a part!
- If you’re on our mailing list but haven’t ever gotten formally involved, this pivotal election year would be a really good time to “wade in” just a bit! Two of the ways you might do this (neither a big time commitment):
- become a precinct representative, which gives you a voice in shaping the party, and plugs you into our volunteer network and all the practical ways you can work for good
- join one of our teams (e.g. Communications, Voter Registration, Voter Protection, etc.).
- If you’re already a little bit involved, this incredibly consequential election year is a good time to commit just a bit more by taking on one of our open leadership positions.
- If you know people who you think could make good contributions to the Cville Dems, encourage them to come check us out (all of our meetings are public, including January 6). Anyone who lives in and is registered to vote in Charlottesville is eligible to stand for election to become a member of our committee and have a voice in shaping our local party’s actions and positions on issues.
If you’d like to get more information or have a question about a role you might consider taking, please contact John McLaren as soon as possible at cvilledemschair@gmail.com and he’ll be happy to explain all.
REPORTS: Executive & Full Committee Meetings (11/27/2023)
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’s “after-action report” on the 2023 election (see below).
- Brainstorming about 2024 (e.g. how to reach younger voters, who has announced or may announce soon as a candidate to run against Bob Good, Republicans outstaffing us at polling locations on Election Day and Early Voting).
- Every two years, in accordance with overarching DPVA rules and our bylaws, we elect new officers. This is happening on Saturday, January 6, at 2:00pm (location TBA). See above for more on this important function, but now’s the time to start considering what role you want to play in defending democracy in 2024!
- Fifth District report by Erin Monaghan: determined Democrats from each county and city in the Fifth gathered in Lynchburg at the district-wide 9/30 Extravaganza to make new friends and honor community contributors from the District. Senator Creigh Deeds and former congressional candidate Dr. Cameron Webb were speakers, and former Congressional candidate Josh Throneburg gave the evening’s invocation and dinner blessing. Charlottesville was well-represented! The Charlottesville community contributor honored was Leah Puryear (nominated by Erin). Erin brought back for Leah a certificate of recognition and small token of the Fifth District Committee’s gratitude and esteem for her career of service to the youth of Charlottesville, and to the entire city as an appointed City Council member.
- Albemarle Dems’ representative Madison Cummings thanked the many Cville Dems who (1) came out to their pre-election canvassing event featuring Senator Warner and (2) helped in various ways get Allison Spillman and other County candidates elected.There will not be a December meeting, so the next meeting will be the 1/6 biennial Reorganizational Mass Meeting.
Post-Election Summary Data from the Electoral Board
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.
Treasurer’s Report (11/2023)
Jason Vandever couldn’t make the November meeting, so he’s passed on this summary report:
The Committee filed its 3rd Quarter financial report with the State Board of Elections in October. All financial filings for the Committee can be found on the SBE’s website here. The Committee ended the quarter with a balance of $30,071 and is on track to finish the calendar year with a slight surplus over the projected budget, primarily due to lower than expected November election expenses. A new biennial budget will be prepared in January for the newly-formed Executive Committee’s approval.
Good Luck to the New 2024 UDems Leadership Team
