CHANGES FROM PREVIOUS YEARS:
The chair, AT THE TIME OF THE CONVENTION, is an ex officio delegate.
Each candidate will be allowed to make a two-minute speech and to distribute material on his/her behalf. The provision allowing each candidate to make a two-minute speech MAY BE WAIVED OR AMENDED by a vote of two-thirds (2/3) of those present and eligible to vote.
The FIFTEEN MINUTE WAITING PERIOD IS ELIMINATED. A voter must be in line by the posted caucus time to be able to run for delegate or vote at a caucus. There is no grace period.
CANDIDATES MUST BE PRESENT TO BE NOMINATED FOR DELEGATE OR ALTERNATE. This is a change from previous non-gubernatorial endorsing conventions. There continues to be an exemption for people serving in the Armed Forces of the United States.
Delegates, either elected, add-on or ex officio, and alternates cannot have supported or endorsed any candidate whose announced intention was to oppose a nominee of the Democratic Party in any one of the two most recent biennial elections. In addition, delegates, either elected, add-on or ex officio, and alternates cannot currently be supporting or endorsing any candidate whose announced intention is to oppose a nominee of the Democratic Party in the current election.
If the chair is a delegate in another capacity and the vice-chair, secretary, treasurer or affirmative action officer is called upon to serve and that officer is an elected delegate, then the officer is considered to be the ex officio delegate and the appropriate alternate would substitute for the delegate who becomes ex officio.
MAJOR DATES IN THE CAUCUS TIMELINE
December 31 – deadline by which people must be registered Democrats to participate in a caucus.
January 18 – deadline for notifying the Democratic Party of date and place of caucus.
January 2 to January 24 – window for publicizing caucus.
February 2 – caucus date (unless a waiver has been granted).
February 10 – deadline by which a caucus must be held if a waiver has been granted.
NOTES
Check the Chairs list to be sure that the Party has the correct contact information for your town or ward. If the information is incorrect, send the correct contact information to chairs@massdems.org .
With the elimination of the fifteen minute grace period, there is the potential for those new to the caucus process to arrive too late to participate. Some communities find it convenient to schedule a town or ward committee meeting that begins fifteen minutes before the time of the caucus. The meeting can then be adjourned and the caucus held within the meeting, similar to the way a special Town Meeting can be held within an Annual Town Meeting.
CONTACT: If you have questions contact the Democratic Party at 617-776-2676.
If you would like to run for delegate, please note that you must be a registered Democrat by December 31.
<
p>If you are a Democrat, contact your unenrolled friends and get them to register. If you are not a Democrat, think about becoming one NOW!
Or it looks that way at the moment.
<
p>This is significant because Democratic Town and Ward Committees are elected at the Presidential Primary, and are required to organize themselves (including electing officers) within a few weeks after that.
<
p>This means that if a committee decides to hold their caucus on Feb. 10, there will probably not be an elected chairperson.
<
p>This probably doesn’t matter for committees where the election is uncontested, but if it is….
<
p>Am I missing something here?
The reorganization window under the existing statute calls for committees to reorganize 30 to 40 days after the presidential primary. This should allow all committees to have the current chair run the caucus. If the chair expects to be contested and would like to be a delegate, then it is advisable for the current chair to stand for election as a delegate.
The old committee, including the current chair, remains in effect until the reorganization meeting; the law is explicit about this, and the reorg meeting is to be held 30-40 days after the election.
<
p>So the election on the 5th doesn’t have any impact on the caucus, which will be conducted under the purview of the old committee no matter when it is held.