First, Happy Thanksgiving! May everyone have a blessed holiday with their families.
At our meeting Tuesday night, we promised to send out precinct maps and other information. This email is only about Bastrop County Republican Party Precinct Chairs as we have a December 1 deadline quickly approaching. We will follow-up this weekend with more information from the rest of the meeting. In the interim, we have openings in several precincts and need your help to identify people who may want to serve in these positions.
We need chairs for precincts:
- 1001
- 1002
- 1003
- 1005
- 1006
- 1009
- 3020
- 4022
- 4025
Four of these precincts are new, due to our growing population, and had no prior chair. The other openings are the result of redistricting.
You can see the precincts on the attached maps. We already have candidates running for the other seventeen County Chair positions.
Several people in attendance Tuesday asked about the responsibilities of a Precinct Chair. The Precinct Chairman’s Handbook lists several responsibilities.
- Getting your people in the precinct involved
- Identifying voters
- Registering voters
- Informing voters
- Turning out voters
- Serving on the Executive Committee
- Election campaigning
- Working at the polls
- Precinct, County and State conventions
You can be as involved as you choose. Certainly, during an election cycle, it is busier. On non-election years, much slower. We have some Precinct Chairs who are very active and spend several hours a week on their roles, and we have some that might spend two hours a month.
I am not a Precinct Chair, so I will not pretend I know the role. However, we do have fifteen or so experienced Precinct Chairs in the Bastrop County Conservatives group who would be happy to discuss the role with anyone who has an interest.
The filing dates seem to be a moving target. At this time the last date for filing to run for a Bastrop County Republican Party Precinct Chair is December 1. HOWEVER, additional time may be granted.
If you are interested you need to file by December 1. This is short notice. It is important to timely file. There is no fee for filing. We encourage you to file if you have an interest. After filing, anyone can withdraw if they made a hasty decision and would rather not run, but only if they file timely. Once the December 1 date has passed, you cannot run for a Precinct Chair position (subject to the ongoing moving target on dates).
You file by going to the Secretary of State web site at https://www.sos.texas.gov/elections/candidates/guide/2022/precinct-chair and obtaining a Precinct Chair filing form. Complete the form and hand-deliver to the Chair of the Bastrop County Republican Party. His email is GOPMikeGepner@gmail.com. His cell phone is (512) 922-1385. If you cannot reach Mike, please call Doug or me at the numbers below and we will assist.
Given the time sensitivity, we suggest you also ask for a written confirmation from our Party Chair that he received the form. That can be one sentence that says “Received application to run for County Precinct Chair from [your name]. [date]”. And ask that it be signed by our County Chair.
This is recommended as so many people will be filing the last day and paperwork could easily be lost or misplaced. It will be a very hectic time for Mike.
If you have questions, please call one of us.
Doug Kelsay
DougK@KeltecSystems.com
(512) 762-2567
Chair – Candidate Selection and Electoral Support Committee
Mel Cooper
MelCooper728@gmail.com
832.603.7150 cell
See November 25 email for PDF attachments of current precinct maps
