FIREBORN

This time, I attend as a delegate to carry the previous votes to the next step. I didn't get chosen as a delegate to the State Convention so this is as far as it goes.

Saturday, March 29

10:30 Doors open for convention registration at Lubbock High School.  The actual convention is scheduled to start at 1:00 pm and a multitude of emails, phone calls, and post cards have been sent to everyone to suggest arriving at 10:30.

My husband and I both attended the convention, I as a delegate, and Jeff as an alternate. 

10:45. We drove up to the parking lot. Already lines up to three people deep wound outside the front of the building.  Parking wasn?t too bad, but it didn?t matter since the walk to the end of the line spanned the entire building.  A nice young man directed people to the entrance closest to the end of the line.  It snaked slowly, but surely, through the hallways.  People were patient and pleasant. A fireman passed out red, white and blue leis or Marti Gras beads to Obama supporters?really dressed the place up and looked more festive.

About 12:45 we reached the tables at the line?s front and got registered.  Just as in the District vote, we listed our names, candidate choice, precinct, voter registration number, ethnicity, email address, phone number, age range, and whether or not we were disabled, gay, transsexual.  We were required to show at least a driver?s license and the attendees at each table cross checked each name with an existing list.  Then we were given a delegate or alternate card to wear around out necks and sent into the auditorium.

People at the door directed us to where our precincts were to be seated.  (Each seat had a precinct number to it?one for each delegate.)  As our group gathered, I was told that there had been a last minute change.  Hmmm.  It seems that our district 114 had been combined with district 4 so all of our delegate numbers shifted drastically.  Nobody can tell us why and we realize that the regrouping will drastically change our candidate?s delegate count.  Our district had 3 Obama delegates and 2 Clinton delegates.  District 4 was allotted 10 delegates total. 9 of them were for Hillary and 1 for Obama. When we arrived, we were guaranteed to have one Obama delegate and alternate.  but now we would be lucky to provide an Obama alternate from our combined group and our alternate would be backing up a Clinton delegate.  (Huh??)

The 114 delegates opted to try to find the Rules committee and make sure this was legal.  Cell phones turned out to be quite handy in this scenario because once you got the right name and number; it was possible to reach these people/committees sooner or later.  So we did what we could and then got to know the folk in precinct 4.  It turned out that though they had been allotted 10 delegates, only 4 of their Clinton delegates actually showed up and their Obama delegate was a no-show too.  Also, they had not been able to get enough people to volunteer to even fill their 10 delegate positions so they had only 9 and no alternates at all.  (I was told there was some confusion about having to travel out of town to this convention and their people would not participate.)

This unexpected turn of events is why we were able to elect an Obama alternate for the June State Democratic Convention to be held in Austin.  But prior to that, the question of whether other precincts? Clinton alternates could be used to fill their delegate positions.  Again, the phone calls and searching for the right official ensued, but we quickly determined that Alternates could not be shared among other precincts.

1:15 VERY loud music accompanied colorfully dressed children of the Ballet Folklorico (My ears still ring at the thought.)  and eventually a little girl from the Cactus Cuties sang the national anthem.  A very energetic, alleluia-type prayer was presented, and the pledge of allegiance got us started.

1:45 There is a call for delegates.  Each precinct is allowed to call for alternates to fill empty seats of missing delegates, but only from their own precinct.

2:10 Each precinct Chair (spokesman) is handed a packet containing instructions and materials needed when they vote for delegate(s) and alternate(s) to send to the Democratic State Convention in June.  Our precinct?s chair person was nowhere to be found because she was also a member of the Resolutions Committee which met through most of the day to deal with Democratic propositions that have been turned into the convention for consideration.  So we did not receive a packet and could not locate her and Precinct 4 would not acknowledge that we were supposed to be grouped up with them for any precinct votes.  (Sigh)

 2:15 Meeting is called to order. An overall chairwoman is nominated and elected to run the meeting.  Legalities are stated that include informing us that the presidential poll was performed at the door.  There are speeches and introductions?.

2:35 The instructions for delegate/alternate elections are explained: one person, one vote for delegate.  Whoever receives the most votes is the delegate; the next up is the alternate.  For a tie the delegation chair decides.  Then white cards are filled out with the winners? info and anyone who wants to apply to be a delegate at large need to fill out colored cards that will be handed into the credentials committee to be considered.  At large delegates and alternates fill in positions that are needed to properly represent the overall percentages/demographic.

2:50 The regrouping of the precincts is explained.  It seems that the Democratic Party utilizes the number of votes for Chris Bell to determine that it will take 180 voters to be represented by one delegate at the State Convention.    Some precincts did not have enough to merit a delegate so parings were reordered by demand of the Democratic Party if we wanted to be allowed to participate. (Extra people will be represented by At Large delegates

The precincts that had enough voters without having to be combined were:

1, 3, 7, 12, 15, 20, 30, 36, 41, 46, 47, 52, 66, 11.

Precinct groupings (as best as I could catch most of them) included: (5+35+92),  (8+120),  (10+54),  (13+112),  (14+129),  (16+40),  (17+126),  (18+38),  (19+104),  (21+57),  (22+50),   (23+58),   (24+33),    (25+45),  (26+117),  (29+34),  (31+121),  (39+44), (43+65+72),   (49+63+123),     (51+119),  (53+75),  (59+113),   (60+123), (62+102),  (67+110),       (76+128(?)),      (78+118),  (109+124),  (125+134),  (4+114).  

3:07 Credential meeting report is presented.

The floor is opened for challenges. 

Precinct 59 had a problem regarding their last delegate from their district convention.  It seemed that they had 27 votes for Obama and 27 votes for Clinton so they went 5 delegates for each candidate but decided to do a legal coin flip for the odd delegate.  The Obama camp won and was agreed upon but the paper work that was turned in did not properly document the process so the committee had to make a decision to determine the last delegate.  They were presented with witnesses and decided to let the Obama delegate choice stand.

An elevated Alternate (an alternate who was called upon to take a delegate position) states that he wasn?t told to go back to the sign in table and register his presidential preference.  He is told that he will have to do that.  He worries that this could be used by another to skew a vote through deception.  The Committee states that the delegates within each precinct caucus should be  aware of their own positions so the matter is settled.

The chair states that of the 728 delegate votes, Obama has 318 and Clinton has 410. 

The percentages to determine the delegate distribution will be 56.32% for Clinton and 43.68% for Obama.

It costs $128.00 per hour to use the High School. (A collection taken up later will provide over $1,000.00 from those who attended.)

3:30 Permanent Chair is elected.  Permanent Secretary is elected.

Meeting rules and committees explained.  Resolution process allows debate of proposed resolutions being proffered.  Debate time is limited from 5-15 minutes per side. Delegates are provided with a pro microphone and a con microphone where they may come up to the front and present their case for 1 minute each.

4:25 the resolution committee members consists of 5 Clinton supporters and 5 Obama supporters.  They have examined and decided on resolutions to be sent on to the State Democratic Convention to be considered for Party promotion.  They have organized them into categories and read them from a list.

The proposed resolutions include: health insurance for children?.some solar and energy legislation?privatization of health?disability changes?a bid to oppose caucuses?opposition to super precincts?support for super precincts?a proposal to include Florida/Michigan votes as they were or can be?abolition of death penalty?support nondiscrimination of illegal alien who have been established here....repeal the Right To Work Act in Texas?provide state employee pay raise?.state employment health and pension change?taxation on land?eliminate No Child Left Behind?promote education excellence in classroom?Social Security should not vary for public employees?reduce national debt?oppose immunity for contractors?prohibit torture?and many more items I couldn?t scrawl fast enough to  catch as they raced through the list.

A motion is made to approve sending all these resolutions as a packet to the State Convention.  There is dissension among the delegates.  Many of them do not want to include all of the committee?s resolutions in the packet. Discussion includes fear of illegal alien proposal and the fact that Obama?s name was not on the ballot when Michigan held their primary.  The committee agreed to change the wording of the Florida/Michigan resolution so that it did not state ?as is? but only to allow their right to be allowed to vote.

The chair calls for a vote, but does not clearly state what is being voted on.  (681 votes are cast: 474 ayes and 207 nays)  Many people claim to have been confused as to wording of the vote so another is held.  (This time: 449 voted, 268 ayes and 183 voted nay but by this time, people are wearing down and leaving and the chair cannot seem to speak clearly. She is saying things like ?the chair stands,? instead of stating things simply.  It was the reason for the repetitious voting and eventually wore the crowd down.

5:00 the Nomination Committee (consisting of 5 Clinton supporters and 5 Obama supporters) returns with the final word on the delegate count.  There are 64 delegates.  It is determined that 65% of the vote be given to Clinton and 35% to Obama (part of which included all 10 of the At Large delegates to Obama).  So Clinton got 41 delegates and 23 delegates for Obama.

many delegates protest this.  Clinton people complain about Obama getting all 10 At Large votes.   Obama people question the huge percentages.

Committee explains procedure and states that relevant rule pole results are used for delegates at large and that they confirmed their decision with the state party. 

Someone asked who they spoke with but no one could remember so it was motioned that the at large vote be sent to the Democratic headquarters for resolution.  This motion was refused as all rules had been followed.

Delegate substitution requests were opened.  A few were made.

6:45 Alternate?s list is read

7:05 Resolutions submitted during the convention are presented.

--create a task force to executive committee to help resolve voting problems especial for university students?approved.

--Affirm both primary and caucus and improve caucus?approved.

--Farm bill counter cyclic safety net to support farm income during periods of low commodity prices indexed to cost of production?approved.

--Fair trade agreement with foreign countries should not be ratified til human rights are addressed?approved.

--Establish national election budget to reimburse to state the cost of primary election (amended to say ?for primary and caucus voting)?approved.

--Permanent disaster relief in congress?mandatory funding?approved.

There was a move to pass all the rest of the resolutions as a packet.

 It was requested that the last 10 at least be listed first.

They are:

--Teacher retirement system needs to be made transparent.

--opposition to voter ID bill.

--Resolution to promote positive human rights to protect undocumented immigrants.

--Abolish federal Real ID act of 2005.

--Add national voting machines to Democratic Party (standardizing).

--Bank and Credit card changes to reduce interest charges, remove unreasonable charges and penalties. Modify bankruptcy laws to relax restrictions and limits for individuals and business.

--Against tolling of existing roadways in Texas.

--call for a vote on the Trans Texas corridor.

--Resolution condemning all forms of torture.

--Resolve to support college, rescind 6 draw clause.

Motion to vote as a package excluding immigration resolution-- failed.

Motion to pass packet of last 10 motions-- passed

7:47 Gavel was passed to new County Chair.  Meeting adjourned.

Things I learned from this experience:

 It is most important to choose someone who understands how to communicate clearly and simply both as your precinct chair and as your convention chair.  If these people cannot handle stress and think on their feet, efficiency will/did crumble.

I think it was a major mistake/oversight that the convention leaders did not come prepared to deal with people with varying degrees of understanding and language skills.  All votes and explanations should have been kept clear and concisely short to prevent confusion and minimize frustration.  This alone could have cut as much as 3 hours from this meeting.   

Organization also could have saved quite a bit of time.  Everybody that I spoke to did not know that all the proposed resolutions we would be asked to approve or vote on were posted on the front walls and along a table by the entrance.  Hence the ensuing confusion and wasted time. 

This convention did not allow food or drinks other than water, and it did not allow any form of break or relief.  Fortunately for me, around 4:00pm another group in full violation of the ?no food and drink other than water? mandate snuck in a stack of Pizzas and offered everyone nearby a piece.  Good thing since I?m diabetic and was starting to feel a little shaky by then.   

My precinct was seated up near the front, but my husband as an Obama alternate, was asked to remain in the back or go upstairs.  Since he is disabled, he stayed in the back rows.

 On one occasion he was accosted by a woman who decided he needed to change his support to the Clinton camp.  A nearby police man had to cuff her and remove her from the building. 

From what he said most of these problems were brought on by a single group of Clinton alternates who were trying to stir things up. He tells me there were at least 3 incidents where people came to blows because of their harassments.   They were not supposed to be involved in the voting.  He says they did whoop and holler their yeas and mostly nays during the verbal resolutions votes and nothing was done about it.

 I would suggest in the future that the convention at least place a few officials to run herd on this situation so that they could be warned or removed if need be.  There was a contingency of police officers present but they had no idea what was legal or not for the convention.  An official could have determined and deterred this behavior.

In conclusion, I?d like to state that, though I was an Obama delegate, the Clinton supporters I met and dealt with were a very considerate lot. So I suspect this is just the nature of large gatherings.  I think it was very inspiring to see how so many different types of people cared enough to spend almost 10 hours on a Saturday in a school auditorium to participate in the electoral process. 

Though the quick and easy push of a button does not inconvenience me as much, these caucuses really do provide a chance for everyone to participate, to voice their opinions and champion their causes and maybe even make a difference.  It was a good experience.  I?m glad I went.

 --originally posted at Marquel White's Political Pulse website.http://www.freewebs.com/politicalpulse/