Pick’Em Right Nominating Candidates in Virginia

1. Pick’Em RightNominating Candidates in Virginia

2. Four Different Ways to Win (or Lose) • Primary • Convention • Party Canvass (AKA Firehouse Primary) • Mass Meeting

3. Who makes these Rules? • Virginia Code Section 24.2 invests the power to choose methods to determine nominees in political parties. • Major Exception: Members of General Assembly can elect to have a primary against the wishes of the party. • The “party” that makes the choice is the committee that operates at that level.

4. State Rules cont’d • State Code Establishes a timeline: • You cannot hold a nomination contest later than the second Tuesday in June for a November General Election or the Second Tuesday in March for a May General Election • You cannot hold it more than 32 days before this date. • Primaries are defined by rules set forth in state code. • All registered voters can participate.

5. Primary- Key Characteristics • Universality • All held on the same day before a general election • Inclusivity • Anyone can vote in any primary • Accessibility • All regular voting places open for all regular voting hours. • One Man, One Vote

6. Primary: Crossover Voting • Pro: Candidate that wins broadest support in general election should win primary • Con: Malicious crossover voting could put weaker candidate on top. • John Warner in 1996, Obama in 2008- lots of crossover- both big winners. • Con: Against principle of free association • Russ Potts, John Chichester

7. Primary Alternatives • The Republican Party of Virginia’s Party Plan is the most important governing document. It is available at www.rpv.org (About RPV). • It defines our three other nominating methods: • Convention • Party Canvass • Mass Meeting • The Party controls who attends these meetings. • This may require pre-filing • They can and do deny people who have voted in Dem primaries. • Decision made by credentials committee appointed by convention chairman.

8. Notice- Answer the Call • The three primary alternatives rely on published notices or calls to define when, where, why, how they function. • Publish call for meeting in local newspaper • 60 to 7 days advance notice • No call published before January 1 of year it takes place. • 24th Amendment: • No registration fee can be required unless it is solely to elect party offices and not “real” offices.

9. Mass Meeting: Just What It Sounds Like • Conducted by Roberts Rules of Order • Majority vote decides. • You have to be there to vote. • One man- one vote.

10. Party Canvass • Also known as the “Fire House Primary” • Like a primary/mass meeting hybrid • A limited number of “polling places” open for a specific window of time. • Plurality of the vote wins. • One man- one vote.

11. Convention • Like a mass meeting- but you don’t really attend as yourself. • If you attend a convention as a “delegate” you are representing a constituency. • For those who want to attend the state convention in May 2009- you will need to be elected as a representative of Prince William County. • One Man, ??? Votes

12. Convention Math • Let’s say Steve Gribschaw is running for Congress in the 11th district against Merrium Ahmad. It’ll be held at the 11th district convention. • The 11th is made up of 3 localities- Fairfax County, the City of Fairfax, and Prince William County. • Representation will be based on population. • So, they don’t need to compare the numbers of supporters they could bring to the convention they need to compare:

13. Convention Math • Steve’s Support = Steve’s PWC x (PWC Delegate Total / PWC Total Attendance) + Steve’s FFX x (FFX Delegate Total / FFX Total Attendance) + Steve’s FXC x (FXC Delegate Total / FXC Total Attendance) • And Merr’s Support = Merr’s PWC x (PWC Delegate Total / PWC Total Attendance) + Merr’s FFX x (FFX Delegate Total / FFX Total Attendance) + Merr’s FXC x (FXC Delegate Total / FXC Total Attendance) • Neither one of them know what their votes mean until they know who else has shown up that day.

14. Convention Ephemera Partial delegate votes • Delegate votes can be split up amongst individuals. There is usually a limit (5). • If more people prefile than can be delegates, you need to have that election. • Full Voting • If you are the only person from your unit, and your unit gets 20 votes, you control all those votes. • In 2008, many individuals had that sort of gross power. • Slating • There have been cases in Prince William past where a slate of delegates supporting only one side has been sent to a state convention. • Republican Voting Strength • Weighting of votes is determined by the following formula: "Republican Party Voting Strength" means a uniform ratio of the votes cast in a political subdivision for the Republican candidates for Governor and President to the total votes cast in the entire Election District for the Republican candidates for Governor and President in the last preceding Gubernatorial and Presidential elections. In all proceedings for nominations for statewide office, the relevant Unit shall be entitled to one (1) delegate vote for each 250 votes. In all proceedings at the District level, the relevant Unit shall be entitled to one (1) delegate vote for each 100 to 500 votes. In all proceedings at the local and Legislative District level, the relevant political subdivision shall be entitled to one (1) delegate vote for each 25 to 500 votes. The exact number shall be decided by the appropriate Official Committee and included in the call. • More Republican Areas Get More Delegate Votes.

15. What’s going on in 2009? • The Prince William County Republican Committee has chosen to convene a mass meeting to elect delegates to the state convention on March 7th or March 14th • You won’t have to attend the mass meeting to go to the state convention. • You will have to prefile to be a delegate to the state convention. We will post the form at http://pwyrclub.org when available. • State Convention is on May 29 and May 30 in Richmond. Voting for the statewide offices will occur on the 30th. The call is available at www.rpv.org.