CALL TO CAUCUS
LUNENBURG COUNTY DEMOCRATIC COMMITTEE CAUCUS
TO NOMINATE DELEGATES TO THE
2018 FIFTH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT NOMINATING CONVENTION
1. Call. Pursuant to the authority provided by the Virginia Democratic Party Plan, the Lunenburg Democratic Committee hereby calls an Assembled Caucus to be held at 10:15 AM, April 14, 2018 at the Lunenburg County Courthouse, 2nd floor, 160 Courthouse Square, Lunenburg, VA 23952. Doors open at 9:30 AM for registration and certification of participants.
2. Incorporated Documents. All appropriate provisions of the Virginia Democratic Party Plan (“State Party Plan”), as amended, and the Call to Convention issued by the Fifth Congressional District Committee of the Democratic Party of Virginia dated February 26, 2018, are incorporated into this Call by reference and made a part hereof.
3. Purposes and Allocation. The purpose of the Caucus shall be to elect five (5) delegates and two (2) alternates to the Fifth Congressional District Democratic Committee Nominating Convention (“District Convention”) to be held at The Firemen’s Sports Arena, 1328 Zion Hill Road, Farmville VA 23901 at 11 a.m. on May 5, 2018.
4. Participation and Outreach. Participation in Virginia's Democratic delegate selection process is open to all registered voters who wish to participate as Democrats. All meetings shall be open to all members of the Democratic Party regardless of race, sex, age, color, creed, national origin, religion, ethnic identity, sexual orientation, economic status, or disability, and all meetings should be publicized fully. The (City or County) Democratic Committee shall conduct outreach to encourage full participation by all Democrats in the delegate nomination process, including notice, publicity and education programs. Such outreach should be directed to all Democratic constituencies, including groups such as ethnic minorities, young people, persons over 65 years of age, lesbians and gay men, persons with a high school education or less, persons with disabilities and persons of low and moderate income.
5. Rules. The Lunenburg County Democratic Committee shall establish Temporary rules for the caucus in conformity with the Fifth District Democratic Committee’s Call and the State Party Plan. A copy of the rules shall be furnished to any Democrat requesting such information.
6. Method of Selection of Delegates. Delegates must be chosen on a pro rata basis, based on the candidate preferences of the participants in the meeting. After caucus participants have been certified as eligible to participate, all participants will be asked to assemble into caucus groups, with one group for each filed Congressional candidate, a “No Candidate” group, and an “Uncommitted” group. A minimum of 15% of the attendees present shall be necessary to form a viable preference group. Members of a non-viable group are free to join another group should they so desire. The Chair will then calculate the number of delegates and alternates that each caucus group can elect. This calculation will be based on the number of participants in a caucus group divided by the sum of the people participating in all of the caucuses (the Pro Rata Share), multiplied by the Allocation of Delegates for the locality. The Chair will calculate the number of alternates that each caucus group can elect by multiplying the Pro Rata Share by the Allocation of Alternates for the locality. These results will be known as the Caucus Allotment of Delegates and the Caucus Allotment of Alternates.
6. Method of Selection of Delegates (continued)
When the numbers of delegates and alternates (the Caucus Allotments) for each caucus group have been determined, each caucus group will elect delegates and alternates to fill the delegate and alternate Allotments for their caucus group. Only those people who have filed may be nominated or elected. Filers do not have to be present at the caucus. Even if a Caucus Allotment is greater than the number of filed delegates for that candidate, the caucus may elect only delegates who have filed; this may result in some delegate seats not being filled.
7. Method of Selection of Alternates. Alternates will be those persons with the next highest number of votes after the persons with the highest number of votes have been elected delegates. There shall be no separate pre-filing of alternates.
8. Filing. Any Democrat wishing to be a delegate to the District Convention must file a Delegate prefiling form with the Chair of the Lunenburg County Democratic Committee, Edward W. Pennington Chair, Lunenburg County Democratic Committee, P.O. Box 1105, Victoria, VA 23974 or by email to edwardwashington50@icloud.com (in Word or pdf format) by the filing deadline of 5:00 PM on April 7, 2018. Only those delegate candidates who have filed by the deadline will appear on the ballots distributed at the caucus. A delegate candidate shall indicate a preference for a filed Congressional candidate on his or her filing form, or he or she may file as a “No Candidate” delegate, or as an “Uncommitted” delegate. “No Candidate” indicates a preference for no filed congressional candidate. “Uncommitted” indicates that no preference for any of the filed congressional candidates and he or she is free to vote his will at the convention. Any Democrat may inspect, at reasonable times and in a reasonable manner, lists of filed candidates for delegate.
9. Filing fees. Each person who is elected to be a delegate or alternate to the District Convention shall be asked to pay an administrative fee to the Fifth Congressional District Democratic Committee in the amount of $5.00. This fee is voluntary and no person shall be denied the right to participate in the District Convention due to nonpayment of the voluntary administrative fee.
10. Declaration. Each participant in the Lunenburg County Democratic Committee caucus, including those candidates for delegate, are required to sign a Caucus Declaration Form certifying that the participant:
· Is a Democrat;
· Is a registered voter in Lunenburg County and in the Fifth Congressional District;
· Believes in the principles of the Democratic Party; and
· Does not intend to support any candidate who is opposed to a Democratic nominee in the next ensuing election.
This is a required statement and must be signed by every caucus participant.
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Edward W. Pennington, Chair - Lunenburg County Democratic Committee
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