Now is the ‘Best’ Time to Organize Your Precincts

In this issue: Greens Take Lead in Several Major Anti-War Actions at the CA State Capitol Greens’ Doo Dah Appearance Deemed a Great Success Greens Support California Fair Wage Initiative Greens Join Procession of Coffins on Veterans Day California Greens Win Four of Five Races in Nov. 8 Elections Pasadena City College Board Tops Victories Greens and MAPA Members Stand Up to Anti-Immigrant Minutemen Dr. Forrest Hill First Green To Run For Secretary of State in 2006 CA Green Party Decries Special Election As Arnold’s Propositions Flop with Voters Which Way Forward Opinion for the Green Party End the Squabble in the Green Party - A Call For A Bicameral Legislature in the National Assembly Benefits Abound Through Precinct Walking Movie: Syriana, 2005 Director: Stephen Gaghan Studio: Warner Brothers, Inc. Winter 2005 Cartoons

By Warner Bloomberg, Interim Coordinator, Campaigns and Candidates Working Group

“We are committed to mobilizing the participation of large numbers of people at the local level... Grassroots democracy... is a type of democracy in which we, as individuals... create our own futures...” (from the GPCA Platform)

There is a basic method for organizing voters: It's called the pre cinct worker. Precincts are the smallest official groupings of registered voters in an election district.

Campaign organization, ideally, has at least one person in each precinct who has volunteered (or is paid) to be responsible for distributing literature, organizing fund raising events, and keeping track of voter information (e.g, who is registered in which political parties; who votes regularly; who is likely to vote which way in an election).

Because the Green Party is almost completely a volunteer organization, precinct organization is one way for County Green Parties to evaluate their Local level of organization. Precinct organization is consistent with valuingdecentralization and grassroots democracy. The challenge is to find, train, supervise, and keep the volunteers busy and engaged.

There are three imminent election related needs for as many California Greens as possible to be ready to collect signatures on petitions: The Minimum Wage Initiative will need signature gatherers; GPCA statewide and local candidates will need signatures collected to avoid filing fees for ballot access; and County Council candidates throughout the state will need to collect signatures for the June 2006 Primary Election (most Registrars of Voters do not list County Council elections on the local ballot unless the number of candidates is more than the number of positions).

Even if all precincts cannot be covered in a county, this approach can be a year round way to build the Green Party. Precinct workers can be a way to recruit volunteers, encourage people to attend local events, and generally create personal connections that are the foundation for a sense of community. Let's do this... NOW!!!

Warner S. Bloomberg III is a former County Council member (Santa Clara County) and a past candidate for State Assembly (San Jose). He currently is Interim Coordinator for the GPCA Campaigns and Candidates Working

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