Draft minutes for February meeting of Oconee County Democratic Committee

OCONEE COUNTY DEMOCRATIC COMMITTEE

FEBRUARY 16, 2012

OCONEE COUNTY ANNEX

Members Present:  Violet Dawe (1-1), Ann Stoneburner (1-3), Jonathan Veit (2-1), Dan Matthews (2-2), Sarajane Love (2-3), Peggy Thrasher Law (4-2), Robert Wyatt (6-1), and Pat Adams (6-3)

Members Excused: Rita Bennett (3-2), Vicky Moody (4-1), Liz Goodroe (4-3), and Diana Jeffreys (6-2).

Members Absent:  Tony Glenn (1-2) and Linda Elkins (3-1).

Call to order:  Ann Stoneburner, Chair, called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM.

Welcome and Introduction of Visitors and Guests:

Carolyn Crawford and Nancy DeRemo

Approval of Minutes:   Ann Stoneburner noted that the minutes had been circulated earlier in the month by Liz Goodroe, Secretary, who had received no corrections or additions. 

Action:  Ann called for a motion to approve the minutes of January 19, 2011.  The motion was made and carried.

Treasurer’s report:  Violet Dawe, Treasurer, reported that the bank balance is $XX,XXX.XX.  Violet gave the year-end report for 2011 (attached to official minutes) and collected dues and members’ forms. She requested and received in-kind donations.  Violet noted that the Committee used an IRS EIN number on financial records and not her Social Security number, as recently advised by the 10^th District Chair. 

Board of Elections & Registration Report:  Robert Wyatt, representative to the BER, in a response to a question about poll workers, passed out copies of an application to be a poll worker.  Robert led a discussion of the following articles from the bylaws of the Democratic Party of Georgia.  Article VI.-Election Duties: 6.2. Poll Officers.  In accordance with Georgia Election Code and GA BL, poll officers to conduct primaries and elections shall be recommended by the Committee to the Oconee County Election Superintendent. 

6.2. Poll Watchers. In accordance with Georgia Election Code and GA BL, two (2) official poll watchers may be designated by the Committee for each precinct for each election. 

Action:  A motion was made and carried to recommend Carolyn Crawford as a poll officer to Pat Hayes, Superintendent of Elections and Registration. 

Committee members interested in serving as poll watchers in 2012 agreed to contact the Chair, who will arrange a training session.  

In response to an earlier inquiry by Violet Dawe, Robert reported that Pat Hayes had advised him that the Committee should have received a portion of the qualifying fee submitted by Carter Strickland in his run for Oconee County School Board in 2010.  He has asked Pat to check to the records to see if a check was issued.  Robert reminded the Committee that early voting had begun for the March 6^th Primary and will continue until March 2^nd.  

Technology Report:  Jonathan Veit reported that the website oconeedems.com is nearly ready.  Jonathan has added information to the site about the upcoming February 25^th rally and a video of Darryl Hicks.  He offered to add the information about the Committee previously sent to Eddy Galuszka (678-278-2012, ext. 319), the DPG web-master. Jonathan noted that the website was not difficult to manage and was linked to a Facebook page.  Jonathan will arrange for other Committee members to have administrative status.  Concerning the addition of newer members to the Committee’s Yahoo mail site, Jonathan suggested that Herb West may remember the process and password.

Report on Rally:  Ann led a discussion of final plans for the February 25^th rally “Oconee County Democrats in 2012.”   Name tags will be made for committee members who are attending the rally.  Pat Adams, Sarajane Love, and Ann will obtain door prizes from local merchants.  It was decided that additional food and drink should not be bought for the rally, as Committee members would bring extra. Jonathan will dispense wine, and Sarajane will handle membership applications.  The agenda for the rally is as follows: welcome and introduction of Darryl Hicks, Patsy Harris, District Chair, and other honored guests; general socializing; introduction of Darryl Hicks, guest speaker, followed by his talk; and the awarding of door prizes to new members.  A reservation at Girasoles will be made for dinner with the speaker after the Rally.  In a discussion of what the Committee can offer new members, it was decided that access to the web site would be considered an advantage, if it were kept up-to-date with political events in Oconee and Clarke each month.    

Report on Training Session for Delegates:  There will be training sessions for citizens who would like to be delegates to the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, September 3-6.  One will be held at the Bishop Community Center on February 23^rd from 6 PM to 8 PM.  The actual election of delegates will be at a caucus held in Madison on Saturday, April 21^st at Morgan County High School. The 10^th Congressional District will send 5 delegates, 3 men and 2 women, to the National Convention.  There was discussion about whether Dan Matthews had decided to be a candidate for delegate.

New Business: a discussion of identifying Democrats to run for county seats opening up this year.

A change in our meeting day was discussed and tabled for further consideration.

Committee members agreed to identify speakers for future meetings.

Dan Matthews, former Chair, in a response to inquiries, indicated that he was willing to finish out his term if the Committee so desired.  Dan was elected Chair for 2011 – 2012, but stepped down in April 2011 to run for office.  The discussion was tabled for the March meeting.

With no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 8:30 PM.

Submitted by Ann Stoneburner (acting Secretary) on March 15, 2011