Duties of a Democratic Committee Person

Your biggest job is to serve as a link between the registered Democrats in your election district and the county organization. You should do your best to inform the Democrats of your district about the policies and the candidates of their party. You are also expected to do the following:

1. Attend all meetings of your County Democratic Committee when called. Also attend all meetings of Democratic clubs in your area. Remind your friends and neighbors that the meetings are open to all interested Democrats in the county.

2. Keep up to date records on the registered voters in your district. Most people do this by keeping a card file which includes the names, addresses and telephone numbers of all the Democratic voters in their districts. You may also want to include Independents in your file. Bring your file up to date as new voters register, or as registered voters change their party affiliation.

3. Distribute Democratic candidates' leaflets and other information to all registered voters in your district before each election. To make this job easier, ask some trustworthy Democrats to help you pass out the material in areas where they may be better known.

4. Before Election Day, ask two or three trustworthy Democrats living in your district to serve as poll watchers between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m. Poll watchers' certificates can be obtained from your county chairman or candidates. Poll watchers should be supplied with a street list to check off names as each voter comes in to vote. Remind them that they have the right to challenge any voter who claims he is registered but is not on your file list. Vigilant, prompt action will discourage unqualified voters from coming into your district.

5. Appoint at least two other Democrats to help in phoning registered voters who have not yet come to the polls by 5:30 p.m. on Election Day. Many people don't know their polling places or when they close. A polite and friendly caller can reach 30 or more potential voters in an hour an win many of them over to our party.

6. Have a volunteer ready to drive voters to the polling place if they have no transportation.

7. Collect the list of voters when the polls close, so that you can update your records.

8. Make sure that your district has an election board; which includes a Judge of Elections, plus an Inspector and a Clerk representing the Democratic Party. If a member of the Election Board resigns, you should obtain from your Board of Elections in the County Courthouse, a petition to appoint another registered Democrat from your district. Have at least ten registered Democratic voters in your district sign the petition and bring it back to the Board of Elections.

9. Circulate nominating petitions for Democratic candidates whom you support in your district.

10. Solicit from the voters in your district financial contributions for the state, county, and local Democratic organizations. We must have grass roots support.

11. Tell new residents in your district how, when and where they can register to vote. Remind the voters in your district to have their sons and daughters register as soon as they have reached 18 years of age.

12. Urge your friends and neighbors to become active members of the Democratic Party and local civic organizations. Our Democratic system of government will work for us only as long as we work for it.