By Vice-Chairman Pam Pollard

Precinct meetings are being held across Oklahoma this week. Several counties are meeting tonight while many counties are combining their precinct meetings with their county conventions. Whenever your precinct decides to meet, you will be electing DELEGATES to the first level of the convention ladder, the County Convention. From there each convention elects delegates to the next level of District, State and ultimately the National Convention.

But what does a delegate do and why should you become a delegate?

Quite simply, the delegate is the only member of the convention with a voice and a vote!

If you want to participate in discussions, make motions, serve on committees and very importantly, be eligible to move up to the next level of convention, YOU MUST BE A DELEGATE!

State Party rules establish 3 committees for the County and State Conventions; Credentials, Rules and Platform and 2 committees at the District level; Credentials and Rules.

The Credentials Committee is charged with verifying the eligibility of the delegates and submitting the list of delegate names for the Permanent Roll of the Convention to be adopted by the convention.

The Rules Committee proposes rules that apply to that specific convention and will cover topics such as: order of business, accreditation of delegates, voting, and time allotments for motions and debate.

The Platform Committee receives the planks to be considered and discusses, organizes and votes on a final platform to be submitted and voted upon by the convention.

The number of delegates authorized at the county level is determined by the County Executive Committee whereas the State Executive Committee determines the number for each county at the State and District Conventions. The determination is outlined in Rule 16 of the OKGOP Rules which gives a formula based on the number of votes cast for the Republican nominee in the last general election.

Conventions are for more than just taking care of party business. They are a place we can gather together as like-minded friends and have hearty discussions on the issues. Our elected officials like to come and give the convention an update on what is happening in their "neck-of-the-woods" and share what is happening in other parts of the state and country.

All these conventions lead us to the main purpose of our meetings this year, which is to elect a nominee for President that will defeat Barack Obama and make him a one term President.

I hope you see the power of the delegate and plan to attend your County, District, State and even the National Convention!

Please check www.okgop.com in the "Events" tab for the dates of all the meetings around state.

If you have any questions, please call your County Chair who can be found on the www.okgop.com website in the "Directory" tab at the top of the page.

If you have any questions for the state party please contact Emily Deffner at 405-528-3501.

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