How Can You Make a
Difference?
Become a Precinct Committeeman
8 May 2010
Background
How did we get here?
• Why Tea Parties?
– Both parties have let down “Tax Payers”
• What happened to our 2 major parties?
– Gravitated to large government providing for citizens
needs
– Do not consider “Constitutional” limits
– Who let the parties change?
• Why not a Third Party?
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Since 1990, candidates in 28 (8%) of the 343 Senate elections have obtained 5% of the vote, and two
(0.6%) have won.
In the 265 gubernatorial elections since 1990 candidates have obtained 5% of the vote 43 times
(16%) and five candidates have won (1.9%).
In the 38 presidential elections since 1856, candidates have obtained 5% of the vote in eleven (29%)
elections, with no third-party or independent candidate being elected president
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Third Party Success in Presidential Elections
1856 - Loss
•
In 1856 the original two-party system (Democrat and Whig) collapsed. The Whigs, who had been one-half of the two-party system since
1832 and had won the presidency in 1840 and 1848, disintegrated. Southern Whigs and a minority of northern Whigs coalesced around
the anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic American Party, better known as the "Know Nothing" movement. Their candidate was former
President Millard Fillmore, who won 22% but carried only one state, Maryland, thus winning 8 electoral votes.
1860 - Loss
•
Breckenridge, the third party candidate of southern Democrats, got 18.2% winning 72 electoral votes from several south states. Bell
finished with 12.6% but received 39 electoral votes from three states.
1892 - Loss
•
James B. Weaver, the Greenback Labor nominee in 1880, ran as presidential candidate for the Populist Party. The Populist Party won 22
electoral votes and 8.51 percent of the popular vote [2]. Weaver became the first third-party candidate to win a state since John Bell in
the transitional election of 1860. The Democratic Party eventually adopted many Populist Party positions after this election, notably the
Populist call for the free coinage of silver, making this contest a prominent example of a delayed vote for change.
1896 - Loss
•
The Populist Party supported Democratic nominee William Jennings Bryan after Bryan and the Democrats came out for support of Free
Silver. Bryan won 47% of the vote and 171 electoral votes, losing to Republican William McKinley.
1912 - Disaster
•
Republican Theodore Roosevelt ran as the "Bull Moose Party" (Progressive Party) nominee in the 1912 election. Roosevelt won 27.4%
of the popular vote and carried six states totaling 88 electoral votes. If the transitional elections of 1856 and 1860, when there was no
clear two-party structure, are excluded, Roosevelt's was the most successful third-party candidacy in American history. It was also the
only third-party effort to finish higher than third. Instead incumbent Republican President William Howard Taft finished third, taking
only 23% of the popular vote and 8 electoral votes. The split in the Republican vote gave Democrat Woodrow Wilson victory with
42% of the popular vote, but 435 electoral votes. Eugene V. Debs, running in his fourth consecutive Presidential election as the
Socialist Party candidate, won 6% of the vote, an all-time high for the Socialists. The elections of 1860 and 1912 are the only two times
that four candidates each cleared 5% of the popular vote in a Presidential election.
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Third Party Success in Presidential Elections
1924 - Loss
•
Erstwhile Republican Robert M. La Follette ran as a Progressive. After the Democrats nominated conservative John W. Davis, many
liberal Democrats turned to La Follette. He received 4,831,706 votes for 16.6% of the popular vote and won his home state of
Wisconsin receiving 13 electoral votes. With the Democrats split, incumbent President Calvin Coolidge won election by a wide margin.
1948 - Loss
•
Democrat Strom Thurmond ran on the segregationist States' Rights ("Dixiecrat"). Thus the Democratic vote was split three ways
between Thurmond on the right, Henry A. Wallace on the liberal left, and incumbent President Harry S. Truman in the center.
Thurmond received 1,175,930 votes (2.4%) and 39 votes in the electoral college from Southern states. Wallace earned 1,157,328 votes
for an identical 2.4% of the popular vote, but no votes in the Electoral College due to his support being mostly concentrated in the more
populous states of New York and California.
1968 - Loss
•
Former Democratic Governor of Alabama George Wallace ran on the American Independent Party line. Wallace received 9,901,118
votes for 13.5% of the popular vote, receiving 45 electoral votes in the South and many votes in the North. Wallace remains the only
third party candidate since 1948 to win a state.
1980 - Loss
•
Congressman John B. Anderson received 5,719,850 votes, for 6.6% of the vote, as an independent candidate for President. Libertarian
Party candidate Ed Clark won 921,128 votes, or 1.1% of the total. No other Libertarian candidate has ever gotten more than 0.5% in a
presidential election.
1992 - Loss
Ross Perot, an independent, won 18.9% of the popular vote (but no electoral votes). His was the second-best popular vote showing
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ever for a third-party candidate, trailing only Theodore Roosevelt in 1912. Perot finished second in three states: in Alaska and Utah
ahead of election winner Bill Clinton, and in Maine ahead of incumbent President George H. W. Bush.
1996 - Loss
•
Ross Perot ran for president again, this time as the candidate of the newly formed Reform Party. He won 8% of the popular vote.
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Political Parties of Florida
• Organizes through Primary Election &
Convention Process
Mission: To Promote a Common Philosophy of
Government & Provide Infrastructure for
Electing Those Who Share It
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What is a “Precinct”?
The smallest geographical/political subdivision
within a county
A map of your precinct may be obtained from your County Clerk.
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All Politics Are Local
The Lincoln Plan
“The whole state [district] must be so well
organized that every Whig [Republican voter]
can be brought to the polls. So divide the
country [district] in small committees
[ultimately precincts] & appoint [organize] in
each a committee. Make a perfect list of the
voters & ascertain [identify] with certainty for
whom they will vote.
“Keep a constant watch on the doubtful voters [undecided or swing
voters] & have them talked to by those in whom they have the most
confidence. On Election Day see that every Whig [Republican voter] is
brought to the polls [get out our vote].”
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Governing Documents
“He who knows the rules, rules.”
• FLORIDA ELECTION LAWS
• PARTY RULES
• PARTY PLATFORM
• COUNTY PARTY BYLAWS
• ROBERT’S RULES OF ORDER
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Typical Party Structure
NATIONAL COMMITTEE
Chairman & Co-Chairman
members from each U.S. State, Territory & Possession
STATE PARTY OF FLORIDA
Chairman & Vice Chairman
County Representatives (Chairman, State Committeeman & State
Committeewoman) & Elected officials
COUNTY PARTY
County Chairman, State Committeeman and State Committeewoman +
Precinct Committeemen & Committeewomen & Elected officials
PRECINCT ORGANIZATION
Precinct Committeemen & Committeewomen & Volunteers
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Who Elects The Party Leaders?
• ONLY precinct committeemen get to vote for the leadership of the Party.
– Party voters elect County party representatives:
• Precinct Committeemen and Committeewomen
• One State Committeeman
• One State Committeewoman
– Precinct Committeemen and Committeewomen elect:
• County Chairman or Chairwoman
– County Party officials (County Chairman and State Committeemen and
Committeewomen) elect the State officials
– County and State Officials are instrumental in driving the primary
process
– State Officials elect National officials
– National officials drive the party platform and direction
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How to Become a Florida Precinct
Committeeman/Committeewoman
1) Run & be elected in Presidential Primary
4-year term; Next election is 2012
2) Be appointed to fill a vacancy
3) Be appointed to become an Alternate if there are no vacancies
Qualifications:
• Be a qualified voter & resident of precinct
• Be a party member
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Florida Precinct Committeemen (PC)
• Ref: Florida Election Law
• http://election.dos.state.fl.us/publications/pdf/20082009/CombinedElectionLaws.pdf see paragraph 103.091
• Each precinct in Florida has a position for a minimum of
one precinct committeeman and one precinct
committeewoman
• Precincts that have over one thousand voters have an
additional precinct committeeman and committeewoman
for every partial increment of one thousand voters.
• Some counties also allow Alternate committeemen when
the positions are full
• Collier County is divided into 94 precincts
• Lee County is divided into 171 precincts
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Florida Precinct Committeemen (PC)
• Florida is like every other state
• 10% of PC positions are filled by “Limited
Government” Patriots
• 15% of PC positions are filled by “Big Government
Spenders & Insiders”
• 75% of PC positions are unfilled!!
• What would happen if we filled just half of those
unfilled positions with “Limited Government”
Patriots?
• It would be so easy to move our parties back to
“Limited Government”!
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What are the steps to becoming a Precinct
Committeeman?
• For additional information review this Blog:
•
http://thefloridaprecinctproject.wordpress.com/
• Determine your voting precinct
– Its is on your voting card
– Or you can access the County Supervisor of Elections website and enter your
address
• Collier County:
http://www.colliervotes.com/index.php?op=F&ss=249953&spanish=N
• Lee County: http://precinctfind.com/pl_fl_lee.php
• Determine if there are any Precinct Committeeman/ Committeewoman
vacancies in your precinct
– Call the County Supervisor of Elections and give them your Precinct Number
• Collier County: (239) 252-8450
• Lee County: (239) 533-8683
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What are the steps to becoming a Precinct
Committeeman (continued)?
• Contact your County Party Executive Committee and let them know
that you are interested in becoming a Precinct Committeeman or
Committeewoman. They will send you an application.
• Do not talk about “taking over the Party”
– Collier County
• Republican: http://colliergop.org/contact.php or (239) 732-0885
• Democrat: http://www.collierdems.org/signup.asp or (239) 777-9411
• Libertarian: http://www.lpf.org/contact-us
– Lee County
• Republican: http://www.leerepublican.org/contact.php
• Democrat: http://www.leecountydems.org/contacts.html
• Libertarian: http://www.lpf.org/contact-us
• After you are approved and join the executive committee
– Listen, learn, volunteer
– Do not try to change the world overnight
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Questions on how to join the effort?
Contact us at any time
• Questions?
• Chuck Marshall
– Phone: 239-963-5732
– Email: [email protected]
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