I understand that there was some problem with the Democratic party in Charlotte/Mecklenburg - specifically when it comes to precinct organization. And that each and every precinct was considered disorganized and they would have to start again from scratch.

But that is really going to screw us up here in Wake County. Mainly because we have been having cluster/POD meetings which appear to be legal under the POO Section 1.04.

Location. The annual precinct meetings shall be held at the polling place of each precinct or other facility deemed appropriate by the precinct chair. If a meeting facility other than the precinct polling place is used, it must be approved in advance by the county chair and publicly announced seven (7) calendar days in advance of the meeting. The precinct chair shall also post notice of the meeting location at the regular polling place. In any case, the precinct meeting must be held in a public facility accessible to all registered Democrats residing in the precinct, except that when the county chair certifies that no public facility is available in the precinct, the precinct meeting may be held in a non-public facility accessible to all registered Democrats residing in the precinct.

My reading of this part of section 1.04 is that the Wake County cluster/POD meetings are in compliance with the plan of organization.

Here's another reason why I know that cluster/POD meetings are legal - I had my very first precinct organization meeting back in 2004 that was set up by Mr. P.R. Latta that consisted of his precinct and 4 others at one location. I can tell you this - P.R. knows the plan, and I know that he wouldn't do anything that violated the POO. So if that cluster/POD meeting was legal in 2004, why aren't they legal in 2008?

For many reasons, our county chair, board and CEC members have approved using the cluster meeting where several precincts joing together to save money, share a facilitator and benefit from having fewer locations for politicians to visit to speak and garner support. Why not pay one facility fee instead of 15 or 20?

And how in the Sam Hill are we going to organize those unorganized precincts - spend close to $100 a precinct for rental fees for precincts that might not make quorum?

In the case of Wake County this year, the precinct organization committee called around and asked the current precinct chairs if they wanted to hold their own meetings at their precinct polling places or if they wanted to participate in the cluster meetings. I called a bunch of people, and all but one wanted to do the cluster meetings. So they are free to meet at their precinct polling place.

We made those calls in enough time. Now it just so happens that the plan of organization is not specific about where else a facility deemed appropriate by the precinct chair needs to be. It does not say that other facility needs to be in the precinct - it just says that the precinct chair must deem it appropriate, and that it must be held in a public facility accessible to all registered Democrats.

My reading of this is that Wake County's cluster meetings are in compliance with the Plan Of Organization. We are even in compliance with section 1.04, so section 1.10 does not apply to Wake County. It's not like we are trying to organize on the fly as people walk around through their neighborhoods?

But cluster precincts does aid in getting unorganized precincts organized in a better manner. After all, you can just invite people from an unorganized precinct to a cluster meeting. If they make quorum and elect officers and delegates, they are organized. If they don't make quorum, they can meet at the alternate cluster meetings which could be in one central location on those other alternate days. There is nothing in the POO that seems to prevent that - unless the party wants to admit that there are parts of the POO that seem to be in conflict with each other. If that is the case, why can't we rule in favor of the least restrictive interpretation?

Or are our hands tied because NC is in play with the presidential nomination - and we want to make sure our delegates are going to be counted (unlike FL and Michigan)?

1.10 ALTERNATIVE METHOD OF PRECINCT ORGANIZATION

A county that seeks to organize precincts in a manner other than that outlined in this section may do so by the following process:

Submit a detailed written plan describing the alternative method of organizing to the state chair by November 1st of an even-numbered year. Said plan must be approved by a majority vote of the county executive committee before submission to the state chair.

1. State chair shall review the proposed alternative method of organizing and offer either a favorable or unfavorable recommendation to the full state executive committee at its first meeting in the odd-numbered year following submission by the county.

2. State executive committee shall consider the recommendation of the state chair and, by a majority vote, either approve or disapprove of the alternative method of organizing.

3. The state chair is encouraged to work with any county submitting a proposed alternative method of organizing to make minor modifications to the plan so as to result in a favorable recommendation by the state chair to the state executive committee.

4. Said approval by the state executive committee shall only be valid for the precinct organization that begins in the odd-numbered year in which the state executive committee approves the alternative method of organizing.

5. Counties using an approved alternative method of organizing must submit requests for reapproval pursuant to the timeframes outlined herein.

The needs of large counties that have 200 precincts are clearly different than those counties that have less then 50 precincts.

The POO is clearly out of date if it can't see that political and economic reality and they need to re-examine the issue since the way Wake County has been doing clusters for the last 2 years is following both the letter and the spirit of Section 1.04.

I am sure that Jerry Meek is a very busy guy, but we run the risk of not getting our county organized because of the fault of other counties playing very fast and loose with the rules.

Chris Telesca
Chairperson, Precinct 01-42 &
Precinct Organization District 34 Coordinator for the Wake County Democratic Party
State Executive Committee Member for the NC Democratic Party