Get Involved - Become a Precinct Committee Person
What: The Democratic and Republican parties have what are called Precinct Committee Persons (PCPs). The state is divvied up into voter precincts, and when they draw all their various districting lines, they bring in pieces of, or whole precincts, which is where they get all their voting data from during elections. Both parties elect PCPs to represent said precincts as decision makers for each state party.
Multnomah County - Information on PCPs
Why: PCPs get to vote on county and state party resolutions and platforms, and they get to nominate appointees for vacant seats in between elections. Many of our state legislators first get into office via vacancies and the voters don’t really get a say in that process other than via these elected (or appointed by the party) PCPs because as ‘electeds’ it is presumed you represent your precinct’s opinions, despite only needing 3 votes.
Examples: Maxine Dexter was elected to Congress; her state seat opened up and Shannon Isadore Jones was appointed to fill her State House seat. Elizabeth Steiner was elected State Treasurer, Lisa Reynolds backfilled her, Mari Watanabe backfilled Lisa. Zero elections to the people took place, PCPs appointed nominees and various county commissioners made the appointments.
If you followed the recent House District 48 appointment, Lamar Wise was able to finally get appointed to a seat after a few years of moving around and trying to get a variety of other seat appointments, because he knew he would never win an election outright on his own for the first go-around. This is how many state legislators first get into office and then gain ‘incumbency’ and never get voted out.
Time Commitment: As little or as much as you wish. The Multnomah County Democrats have a monthly virtual meeting, with various subcommittees if you want to get more involved. From there, you could even get more involved with the Democratic Party of Oregon and/or their various caucuses and committees. Some people are more active with the state party than the county one, and some PCPs never attend any meetings at all, or only show up when they need to vote.
(This exists for the Republican party, too, but we know that Portland / Multnomah County are very much a democratic majority and we can affect local political platforms more.) REGISTER TO VOTE
Party Registration: Yes, you have to be registered as a Democrat or a Republican to run as a party Precinct Committee Person. Even via party appointment, you have to be a member of the party. UPDATE YOUR PARTY AFFILIATION
Double Why: Future Portland will be joining other volunteer canvassing efforts done via Precinct Captains. Organizers are looking for you to sign up to be elected so it’s easier to coordinate all elections. Please let us know if you apply to be elected. FIND YOUR PRECINCT
FILE BY CLICKING THE BUTTON BELOW BY MARCH 10th AT 5pm.
See the current list of Multnomah County Democratic Party Precinct Committeepersons to see who your current representatives are HERE.