Reply #7: It's easy to win a seat on the committee.

[Liberty Belle]

I first heard about this through Democracy for America (Dean's group).

Some of the committees don't even have as many people running as there are open seats.

In our case, there were 12 seats and 14 people running.

There's no cost, except $15 to become a voting member of your Assembly District Committee (at least that's the fee for us locally). I passed around a short bio and made a statement in which I pledged to support progressive values and electoral reform to be sure all votes are counted. In fact I've been a media spokesperson for VOTERR, a group dedicated to this. Only two other people brought prepared statements. The rest ad-libbed their introductions. I'm proud to say I got the most votes of anyone there, and the others who stressed progressive values also got a lot of support. Those 2 people not picked as delegates are still alternates, so if anyone gets sick, they come, too.

As for becoming an officer on the committee (Secretary), that happened on the spur of the moment. The existing secretary wants to retire, hasn't found anyone willing to run, and talked me into it on the spot when she found out I'm a journalist. The job entails taking notes at quarterly meetings, typing up minutes, and sending out a quarterly newsletter. Well worth it to have a say-so in the behind-the-scenes decisions.

At some committees, I'm told, there are more people who come, so it's a good idea to "pad" your vote by bringing a few friends and family members from the district to vote for you.

I urge all of you to do this the next time there's an opening on your local Assembly district Democratic committee!