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CCDC Call to Assembled Caucus
The Chesterfield County Democratic Committee (“the Committee” or “CCDC”) hereby calls an Assembled Caucus for the purpose of selecting endorsees for non-partisan School Board and Soil & Water offices in Chesterfield County for the 2023 General Election.
1) Assembled Caucus: The Assembled Caucus will take place on June 8, 2023, at a general membership meeting to be held at Meadowdale Library beginning at 6:00PM. School Board and Soil & Water candidates will each have 5 minutes to speak to the membership. Members of the Executive Committee will keep time to ensure each candidate has an equal amount of time to speak. There shall be no campaigning in the room once the meeting has begun: no signs or interruptions of other candidates.
2) Eligible Participants: Only current members (voted in no later than the May 3, 2023 meeting) are eligible to cast a ballot. No participant in the Caucus may intend to support any candidate who is opposed to the Democratic endorsees (see #4, Pledge).
3) Candidate Eligibility: Candidates seeking the CCDC endorsement must have properly filed with the Registrar and meet all state, county, and CCDC eligibility requirements. Candidates must also pledge to support the CCDC endorsees. The signed request for endorsement form must be submitted no later than 5:00 PM on June 3, 2023, to the CCDC Chair or First Vice-Chair.
4) Pledge: As members arrive at the meeting, they will be asked to sign in and will receive a pledge form to fill out. The pledge affirms that the member casting a ballot will not support any candidate other than those receiving the official CCDC endorsement, per Article XII, Sect. 2 of the CCDC bylaws. (No Committee member shall publicly support, endorse, or assist any candidate opposed to a Democratic nominee.) If members do not wish to sign the pledge, they will not receive a ballot.
For members attending via Zoom, the pledge will be available in the chat room. Members attending electronically will be asked to sign the pledge via a Zoom survey. You are urged to sign on early to the meeting to take care of this step beforehand.
5) Voting Procedure: After submitting their pledge form, eligible CCDC members will receive a ballot on which the candidates seeking endorsement are listed. In districts in which more than one candidate is seeking the endorsement of CCDC, members should mark only ONE choice. Members may vote for Soil & Water nominee and one School Board nominee in each Chesterfield magisterial district.
For members attending via Zoom, the ballot will be available via the survey function. Please ensure you are familiar with this function before the meeting begins. The voting window will remain open for one half-hour, and no extensions are possible, regardless of reason.
6) Vote Tabulation: Members should mark their ballots and place them in the ballot boxes. The voting window will begin after all of the candidates have spoken and will remain open for a half-hour from 6:45-7:15PM. At the conclusion of the voting process, members of the CCDC Executive Committee will count ballots and results will be announced. Each candidate may have one observer (either the candidate or a representative) at the vote counting table. Tie votes will be decided by the drawing of lots by the CCDC Chair within one week of the Caucus. If the majority of members voting in the Caucus cast written ballots marked “no candidate,” then no candidate shall receive the Democratic endorsement at the Caucus, and no candidates shall be the Democratic candidate (CCDC Bylaws, Art. XII, Sect. 6).
Voting on Zoom
1- Members must be logged into the meeting by 6:45pm, the waiting room counts, this allows for time to be checked in as well as to vote. The check in process may take a little longer, so please be patient when you’re in the waiting room. Becky and a member from EC will be verifying who is a member, which will be noted on our spreadsheet with the letter “Z”. We are asking members to keep the Chat Box clear and to avoid that feature unless they are experiencing a problem or are responding to the pledge.
2- The Pledge is working a little differently on zoom. At the beginning of the meeting we will drop a link into the chat that will go to the pledge for members to review at their convenience, or they can review in any of the emails that have been sent out, or in our CCDC FB Group. Members will be asked to type “I Agree” in the chat box. Members who have typed “I Agree” in the chat, will be noted on the same spreadsheet that they have accepted the pledge by placing a “P” in that column. Members who do not respond with “I Agree” but are logged into the meeting will be reached out to, by our Zoom EC leaders, to verify if they wish to agree or not agree before being able to move into the “Voting Room”
3- If connection is lost after you have been placed in the “voting room” you will not be allowed to rejoin the voting room, as we can not verify if you completed the poll to vote
4- One Vote per Zoom log in. Meaning, in a household where you typically share a screen with another member during the meeting, you will need 2 devices for 2 votes. Mobile devices such as phones and tablets will work fine.
5- Once you have voted, you can leave the “voting room” and rejoin the main meeting. During the Voting Time,even if members have completed the vote, members will be asked to remain muted. Once the 30 min Voting window has expired, members are welcome to unmute and chat amongst themselves. There will be no “activities” happening during the counting time.
6- Once you are in the voting room, there will be no campaigning allowed, this includes the chat as well. Campaigning is described as anything audibly being said, literature or signs being held into camera view. T Shirts and buttons are ok….so long as they remain on your person. An EC member will be in the Voting Room at all times, if we see any campaigning, we will turn off your camera.
7- During the Voting Time, the laptop running Zoom will be placed near the ballot box
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