State Senatorial Convention
Special Report - Part 3
By John D. Turner
Texas, like many other
states, and the United States as a whole, has a bicameral
legislature. This is a fancy way of saying that the state
legislature is composed of two houses, the Senate, and the House of
Representatives. Each state Senator has an area he or she represents
in the Senate, known as a Senatorial District (SD). Each state House
member also represents a district in the House. As with the Federal
government, there are fewer Senate members than House members,
meaning that Senatorial Districts are "larger" in terms of
population than House Districts. Currently, the State of Texas has
31 Senatorial Districts, and 150 House Districts.
Well, this is all very
interesting, but how does it affect me, Al Franken? Remember in my
other column I mentioned something called a "Senatorial Convention"?
The Senatorial convention is
the next level up from the Precinct convention. Delegates at the
Senatorial convention meet to conduct business at the Senatorial
District level. As with the Precinct convention, the meeting is
called to order, officers are elected, and old and new business is
discussed. This includes adoption of the Party Platform at the SD
level, and election of delegates to the State convention.
Due to the size of the SD
convention, things are somewhat streamlined compared to the Precinct
convention. A number of committees meet prior to the SD convention
to prepare material for the delegates.
One, the resolutions
committee, takes all the resolutions (the "whereas") submitted at
each precinct meeting and correlates them. First, they collect up
all "like" resolutions, then they check to see if the resolution is
already in the previous party platform or not. If it is, no further
action is taken. If not, then the resolution or part thereof,
becomes a proposed amendment to the party platform. This is quite an
undertaking! And as you may guess, this is also a rather important
and influential committee, since they are the ones who draft the
final platform amendments.
Is it possible for you to
become involved in this committee?
Yes it is. How?
Volunteer to be on the committee at your precinct convention.
Your precinct chair will send your name forward and you will be
contacted. Likewise, if you desire to be a delegate to the State
convention, let your Precinct chairperson know. Your name will go
forward to the committee in charge of preparing the list of state
delegates.
During the convention, there may be people (perhaps yourself) who
may not like some of the proposed amendments or even established
parts of the platform. You can propose alterations from the floor.
These proposals will be debated, much the same as happened at the
Precinct convention.
Here however, things take longer and are more formalized. Also
there are certain rules pertaining to length of time one may speak
to an issue and how many persons can speak to both sides. Don't
worry you will get the hang of it. Finally, after all is said and
done, the platform as a whole will be voted on.
Another thing that happens
at the Senatorial convention is that persons running for local
offices are invited to give short speeches. This can be very
interesting, as this may be the only opportunity you get to hear
some of them explain what they stand for. These may range from the
person running for the U.S. House of Representatives in your local
Federal Congressional District (CD), to those running for
judgeships, state offices, county offices, sheriff, Justice of the
Peace, etc. This is your opportunity to hear them live, and form
your own opinion. Afterward (or beforehand), you may get the
opportunity to speak with them yourself if you desire.
Remember, you are a delegate
now, one of the few in your community who has taken the time to
become involved. They will pay more attention to you and your views.
By virtue of your being a delegate, they are pretty sure you will
vote and they want to make sure you vote for them. There is also a
pretty good probability that you will have an influential role when
it comes to talking to your family, friends, and co-worker’s
concerning the upcoming election. Again, they want you to influence
those around you on their behalf. Take advantage of this to ask them
questions that concern you.
Finally, there will be a
vote taken on the slate of delegates that will represent your
Senatorial District at the state convention. There will be a list of
Delegates and a list of Alternates. Alternates will be seated as
delegates if some of the delegates are absent. If you are on the
alternate list, don't worry! You can still attend the convention.
And there is a good probability you may still become a delegate. At
the last state convention, all the alternates who showed up from my
district were seated, as many of the elected delegates were not
there.
Speaking of attendance, my
Senatorial District (SD 26) holds its convention in the Business
Careers High School auditorium in San Antonio. If every possible
delegate from every precinct were to attend, the building would not
be big enough to hold us all. Last year it was approximately one
third full. Our SD is comprised of several hundred precincts. Many
precincts had no representation at all. There were exactly two
precincts of size greater than one that had one hundred percent
participation. They received ovations from the assembled delegates.
Once again, you can make a
difference.
Your level of participation is up to you. There is always need
for is volunteers to help with the various committees, campaigns,
and other things that go along with the election process.
Helping out in these areas will help you to understand how things
work and what's going on. It will also afford you the opportunity to
get to know those running for office. You will meet interesting
people and even enter into spirited debate with those having common
goals, but perhaps differing ideas on how to achieve the objective.
Above all, you will become that which keeps our country free; an
informed voter, and an active participant in the electoral process.
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