Today I went to my Democratic Party Ward Meeting.

[TygrBright]

Last week, someone from the County Democratic Party phoned up to remind the esposo and I that as registered Democrats, we're entitled and invited to attend the annual pre-County Convention Ward Meeting. On the agenda: Elect a Ward Chair and Vice-Chair, and delegates to the County Central Committee. Our ward is eligible to select fourteen delegates to attend the March 25th County Convention.

They gave us the address for the meeting, and the time- 10 am.

So we went.

Good thing we left early because when we got to the meeting location, there wasn't a parking space for blocks.

When we got there, we signed in, and looked around for the sign that would direct us to the room for our ward, 3A (there were about a dozen wards all using the venue at the same time.) County Chair and Vice Chair candidates were circulating, glad-handing, talking about what they'd do to build a stronger Party in the county, but even they looked kind of overwhelmed by the turnout.

We finally had to ask someone at the registration table which room our ward was meeting in, and got told, somewhat apologetically, that since the turnout was so large, they were staggering the meeting times, and ours would begin an hour later.

So, we ran an errand, and came back, thinking we'd be able to park a little closer when the 10 am meetings were over.

We still had to park 3 blocks away.

Our ward is one of the smallest in the county, in both area, and population. So they'd naturally given us a small room.

We were busting at the seams.

More than twice the largest turnout the Ward Chair could remember. "I've been to plenty of these where I was the only one... or me and two or three other people."

He'd never had more people attending than County Central Committee delegate slots to fill. But it was okay, there were several of us who didn't want to be delegates. So we got all the volunteers signed up, voted them as a slate, and moved on to business.

The Ward Chair said anyone could nominate themselves as Chair or Vice Chair, or even Secretary or Treasurer. We hadn't had a Secretary or a Treasurer ever, but the County rules allowed us to elect one. Usually just him and the Vice Chair were the only ones who wanted to serve anyway, and they'd be happy to serve again, but did anyone else want to throw a hat in the ring?

And a young man spoke up- probably in his early 20s? Not very sure of himself but he said he thought it would be a good idea to have some younger people involved, and unless anyone else wanted to go for it, he thought he'd take a swing at Vice Chair.

All eyes turned to the incumbent Vice Chair, a woman maybe in her early 50s, with plenty of experience. She said "I think that's a great idea. Why don't I run for Secretary, then?"

So we asked if anyone else wanted to be considered. There were a LOT of first-timers there- willing to be CCC delegates, but unsure of the process and not ready to step up. So we voted in our slate- Incumbent Chair to continue, brand-new Vice Chair, and our first-ever Ward Secretary-Treasurer.

Then we started talking about what matters to us as south siders. There's a School Board vacancy right now, and we think that since our ward is right smack in the middle of the county's highest percentage of families with elementary and middle school-age children, we should have a say there.

Retired military guy who's an ESL teacher, seemed smart, steady, and allowed as how he supported teaching actual science in schools, bilingual ed, sex education, etc., STRONGLY, we all promised to support him if he'd go file for it.

We put together the contact list. Collected donations for the County Party, but since they'd come from our ward they'd be earmarked for organizing and supporting activities in our ward.

And that was the meeting.

On the way out I talked to one of the County organizers. She was still flabbergasted at the turnout. "It's never been this big. Never. NEVER."

So I guess that's something Captain Chaos can take credit for.

If he wants to.

happily,
Bright