A New Kind Of Precinct Meeting

Several Precinct Meetings Will Look Much Different, This Winter.

After meeting with lawmakers, precinct members break
into groups at a central meeting of several precincts.

  A growing trend of change in the OKGOP county organizations will be effecting many active Republicans, this year. The State Executive Committee is granting broad approval to County Executive Committees, to move precinct meetings down the road a few miles and coordinate numerous clusters into an event which will give voters greater access to lawmakers and party officials.

  Several Legislative members are hosting events at Libraries, schools, & churches. this will take a good amount of hosting pressures off local precinct committees and make a more inviting atmosphere for new voters and potentially active party members. The county leaders of the party are looking for ways to better publicize the events and give newly organized precincts more on-site assistance for turning dormant precincts into new growth in the GOP.

A portion of the letter from the OKGOP leadership, to county leaders.

  The Sooner Politics research team scoured the pages of the OKGOP Rules and we are now convinced that the move is on solid ground with the stated rules of the party. The state leadership included an instruction for this, in their call for Biennial Precinct Meetings. Their wording is a bit inaccurate, in that they believe a county has this authority, but the rules state that only when the state executive committee grants this latitude (which they have) does the county leadership have authority to move Biennial meetings outside the precinct boundaries.
  Other regular precinct meetings are completely governed by that precinct's own leadership, but when the county issues delegate credentials to attend and represent the precinct's voters at a county convention, then the county can stipulate a number of requirements for how that precinct meeting is conducted. OKGOP Rule 5 seems to contradict the action, but the Biennial Precinct Event is governed by Rule 16.
  Like any other new initiative, this effort will have some resistance to change. Human nature being what it is, a few folks will see a sinister plot or a power-grab. But this is a discretionary act by county volunteers who are seeking ways to address both problems and opportunities.

David Van Risseghem

  Sooner Politics is looking forward to hearing from participants and several have said that the Oklahoma City Republicans have been using this format for several years.