Tonight: Bernaillo County Dem Party Ward/Precinct Elections

It's one thing to criticize the Democratic Party or its candidates. It's another to become the Democratic Party -- or at least to become active in its workings. If you want to have a say about the Party platform and the candidates who will be on the Party's ballot for the June 3rd primary election, now's the time to get yourself elected as a delegate (or alternate).

Any registered Democrat can run for one of the state pre-primary convention delegate slots, which are allocated to each precinct and ward based on voting patterns in the 2004 presidential election and the 2006 gubernatorial election. To run, you need to attend the appropriate ward/precinct election to be held TONIGHT, Thursday, February 7, 2008, at 6:30 PM, at a variety of locations around Bernalillo County. To have a better chance to be elected, bring along some of your neighbors to support you.

If you live in a county other than Bernalillo, please contact your Dem County Party for information about your county's delegate election and county level pre-primary convention. Contact info for all County Parties can be found here

To determine your precinct and ward in Bernalillo County and where to go tonight:

• If you don't know the ward, but know the precinct number, click here.
• If you need to look up a precinct by putting in the address, find it here.
• See the list below to find your ward/precinct election location

Folks who were elected to be members of the Party's State Central Committee last year are automatic delegates to the pre-primary convention, as are current ward chairs. Only the ward chair delegate will be counted as one of the allocated delegates in each ward.

All delegates will then attend the Bernalillo County Pre-Primary Convention, where delegates are confirmed, and then attend the State Pre-Primary Convention as delegates. The total number of delegates to be elected at the county level statewide this year will be 1,511 (including ward chair delegates). Added to this number are State Central Committee members who are “automatic” delegates, resulting in a total delegate count of 1,919 for the 2008 State Pre-Primary Convention.

Voting at the State Pre-Primary Convention will determine which candidates will appear on the Democratic primary ballot, and the order in which their names will appear on the ballot. Unless the law is changed at this year's Legislative Session, candidates much receive at least 20% of delegate votes in their category to get on the Dem primary ballot. State delegates will also get to vote on the State Party Platform and other business.

All registered Democrats are urged to attend:

BERNALILLO COUNTY WARD ELECTIONS, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2008, 6:30 PM. Various precinct locations. Election of delegates and alternates to the Bernalillo County Pre-Primary Convention. Click for the official meeting call and list of ward election sites (PDF).

Note: If you're a fan of Martin Heinrich for Congress, you should know you can head over to his website where he has all the info you need to make it easy to attend your ward election tonight, including links to maps.