I'm please to announce that I received this letter, dated 13 October 2008, last month from the King County Elections Division. The letter reads, in part:
"At the August 19, 2008, primary and special election, you were elected as SEA 37-1895 Democratic Precinct Committee Officer. A cermonial certificate of election has been sent to the party to which you were elected."
Congratulations, right? Not so fast...
So while I'm waiting for my "ceremonial certificate" (and presumably instructions on how to fulfill my duties as official flier-boy/intern for my fellow Democratic neighbours, today I receive a second letter -- this time from Mr. Dwight Pelz (Chair WA State Democrats) himself.
"I want to thank you for offering to serve as a Precinct Committee Officer (PCO)," Chair of the Washington State Democrats writes.
He continues with a boldface slap to my pride, "However, I must inform you that you have not met the threshold for PCO as defined by our State Party."
It seems, after reading the complete letter [page 1 | page 2] a few times over (being new to this process, as I suspect many are) that there is some disagreement between what, exactly, it means to be PCO. You see, according to Pelz, Secretary of State Sam Reed waived rules requiring a PCO candidate (via. votes or write-ins) to receive 10% of that of the highest vote getter. (In all likelihood, we're talking 10% of the votes cast for Gov. Christine Gregoire [or Barack Obama?].)
The best part of this letter, in my opinion, is the justification. Mr. Pelz explains that the reason for this system is: "One person could write in the name of a Republican as a joke and she would be the 'elected Democratic PCO' under these rules."
(I digress, but wouldn't it make sense to disqualify the 'bad apples' rather than discourage those, like myself, legitimately interested in the position?)
I'm informed that my name has been passed along to a County Chair for possible consideration as an 'Appointed PCO'. (Appointed PCO's, I learn, are not able to vote in Re-Organization Meetings, only those PCO's that were Elected. Discouraging.)
I'm no political expert (and if you're counting obvious statements, that's number four), but this entire circus is somewhat frustrating. Either I am the Democratic Precinct Committee Officer, or I'm not... I'm either receiving a 'Ceremonial Certificate' or I'm not... Either I'm the local volunteer representative of the Democratic party... or, well, not...
[Before you ask: Yes, I had every intention of serving as PCO and taking the position seriously. I was actually a bit excited to have "won" my write-in candidacy. Until today I was looking forward to serving in my official (pseudo-official?) capacity.]
I'll keep you posted.
For now, however, I think I'll hold off on any further write-in campaigns until I've sorted this one out. :-/
I look forward to your comments, suggestions and similar experiences.
