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Written 02-21-2008:
Texas Primaries
101 - What is it? How does it work? What is the
impact? Most likely you can be a delegate. Yes, you
can be a delegate! What it all means is a way to narrow
down the choices.
The Texas
Primary is more accurately known as the Texas Presidential
Primary but there are other elected offices on the ballot.
The primaries are separated by party so you may also hear it
referred to as the Democratic Primary or the Republican Primary.
The main purpose for the primaries is two fold:
- To determine who will be on the final ballot for the general election
in November for elected positions from the County level to the
National Level .
- To organize and assign delegates for the political parties.
Early voting - In Denton
County Texas, you can vote early at any of the County
Early
voting locations. Both primaries for all the precincts
in Denton County will be held at each of the early voting
locations but this is not the case for the Primary Election Day
on
March 4, 2008 where the party primaries will have many different
locations for precincts. The EARLY VOTING location in Lewisville
will be at the Lewisville
Municipal Annex, 1197 W. Main Street, according to the following
EARLY VOTING schedule:
Feb 19-22 -- 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Feb 23 -- 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Feb 24 -- 1 to 6 p.m.
Feb 25-29 -- 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Election
Day March 4, 2008 -- 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Primary Election Day:
March 4, 2008 voters must cast ballots at their
precinct-specific voting location. Election Day voting hours
will be 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Voters can find their voting location
on Election Day by calling 940.320.VOTE. Voters who do not know
their precinct number can call 940.349.3200 or visit
http://elections.dentoncounty.com.
Where to vote in Denton County
Texas: visit
http://elections.dentoncounty.com and click
on the left menu
to see the Early Voting Locations and the Primary Election Day
Locations. Look at the precinct map and determine what
precinct you are in.
Vote by Democrat or Republican in
the Texas Primary?
For the Primary the answer is yes. You do not have a
choice for the Primary. Even if you consider yourself an
Independent. I do not want to confuse
people by trying to make this clear so please read what I am
saying here carefully. In November, you may vote for
whomever you wish, regardless of either how or even whether you
voted in the primary election.
For the Texas
Primaries, Texas is a two party State, however, Texans do not
register by party. A voter becomes “affiliated” with a
party by voting in a party’s primary. That is, can only
vote in one of the primaries - Democrat or Republican. Yes, you
have to choose one side or the other. You get a ballot
specifically written for your precinct which has the elected
officials and referendums (if any) to vote on..
When a voter casts a ballot in one party’s primary, they are
affiliated with that party for a year (Texas Election Code Sec. 162) which is actually the next two years
because party elections are every two years. This does not affect a voter's ability to vote for
candidates of either party in a general or a special election.
Primary Runoff Elections: This
is to narrow down the Party choice to a specific candidate so
that the candidate will be on the General Election in November. A voter cannot
vote in primary or run-off elections for any other party.
For example, If you voted in the republican primary then you can
only vote in the republican primary runoff election. This does not affect a voter's ability to vote for
candidates of either party in a general or a special election.
Why is Texas so late? Why
do we even bother? I think the States should have
primaries all on the same day. That would make things a
little better for me. Maybe the politicians will change it
before 2012.
With no candidate for either party getting enough delegates to
nail down the nomination on Super Tuesday, candidates are
turning to Texas. In Texas,
Democrats have 228 delegates and Republicans have 140 delegates to
assign to their party’s national convention. Nation wide,
Candidates need a required number of delegates to win the
nomination to be on the ballot for the General Election in
November. Nationally, A democratic candidate needs 2025
delegates and a republican candidate needs 1191 delegates.
If none of the candidates in a party get the required amount of
delegates to win the nomination, then the decision is made at
the national convention from the votes of the delegates.
How do Delegates fit into the picture? Who are the
Delegates? How to become a delegate?
Texas Republicans apportion all of their national convention
delegates among the presidential candidates based solely on the
primary election vote. For Republicans, the winner of the Texas
republican primary gets all 140 delegate votes.
Democrats apportion national convention delegates among the
presidential candidates based on both the results of the primary
election and a “caucus” system at local and state party
conventions. For Democrats, Texas is not a winner-take-all
state.
For
explanation purposes, let's use Denton County as our reference
point and talk about the different levels of conventions and the
delegates.
Democrats and Republicans choose delegates to their
respective state conventions through a two-step process that
begins at precinct conventions immediately after the
polls close.
The
Republican Precinct Convention location is at the Primary
Election Day Voting location (March 4, 2008 at about 7:15 PM)
for your precinct. It most likely will not be the early voting
location. Be sure to look it up. Anyone who voted in the primary election may/should attend the precinct convention.
The precinct convention may have a few people to hundreds and
may take a few minutes to several hours. Show
up to your precinct convention and start your journey to be a
National Delegate. I would like to point out that being a
delegate (or alternate) requires a commitment that you will show
up and vote at the conventions and expenses are at your own
expense.
Each precinct has a designated number of delegates and an equal
number of alternates that they can send to the Senatorial (County/District)
Convention. The precinct convention is just a short
meeting in most cases where voters show up to state they want to
be a delegate and then vote on who will be the precinct
Convention Chairman, Secretary, SGT at arms, and vote on
referendums. (Referendums are basically suggestions to the
National Party so that we can try to get them on the final
November ballot.) If there are more people wanting
to be a delegate than the allotted number, then the group will
vote on who should represent the precinct as delegates or their
alternates. Precinct delegates and alternates are asked to
attend the senatorial (county/district) conventions.
The
Republican Senatorial District Convention will be held on March 29, 2008
and starts at 8:30 AM. In Denton county, it will be
at the Westside Baptist Church in Lewisville, TX ( at Edmonds
and Bellaire). They are like the precincts conventions but
bigger. Each senatorial convention has to select a designated
number of delegates to send to the Texas state convention.
Those Precinct delegates wanting to go ask to be Senatorial
Delegates and the if there are more than the allotted number
allowed, then the group selects from the group. These
Senatorial delegates are asked to go the State convention.
The
Republican Texas State Convention will be held in Houston, TX on June 12-14, 2008.
Guess where the National Delegates to represent the State come
from? Yep, they are are elected by the delegates at large
at the State Convention.
The 2008 Republican National Convention will be held in Minneapolis-Saint Paul from September 1-4.
If the candidates do not have the minimum needed to be
considered the republican nominee, then the delegate will vote
for the candidate.
Please help - America Needs You!
That's the way I see it - John
Gorena.
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