July Minutes
Baxter County Democratic Committee
Meeting Minutes
The Back Forty
7/1/23
Chair Derek Huber called the meeting to order at 10:12 a.m.
Donnie Huffine: Pledge of allegiance
Minutes: Called for any changes to June minutes, there were none. Called for approval of minutes, Michael Baeten made a motion, Linda Stanton 2nd, all in favor. June minutes accepted.
Treasury report: Current account balance: $3,410.32.
Update: Karen collected $595 at this meeting.
We have been hitting/or getting close to our goal every month. We appreciate everyone coming out in this heat on a holiday weekend and for supporting the group thus far.
Money that is donated is to help candidates that are running for office next year. We would love to have a slate of Democrat candidates that can go on the ballot together.
Chair Derek Huber Updates:
Let Derek know if you need help joining Slack. We have added several members on Slack already.
VAN training next month in August at the Library, please invite members to come to get this training. No 5 counties in this senate district have had VAN training so this is huge for us and for any candidates next year. Please invite anyone who is interested to learn.
Reports of Officers and Committees:
Legislative: Nothing new at this time for Legislative Watch Committee.
Local Beats: Nothing at this time.
History: We have a great article that Mike Breton wrote about Joe Dillard and his history and contribution to our area. It’s a great article, please read and share.
Election Workers: Bob Bodenhamer gave an update: County wants to appoint an election coordinator. A lot of counties have this position and the Secretary of State encourages this. This new person will be an employee of the county clerk’s office. Right now the election commission has to do all of this work themselves so this will help greatly. This person will build ballots, and call a meeting for commissioners, then commissioners will review and accept or see if anything needs to be changed. QC is going to vote on this at their 2nd meeting in July. Canda Reese will put out information on how to apply for that position.
Our resolution to oppose paper ballots has done really well and as of now, paper ballots are not going anywhere. We will keep watching for more on this.
Guest Speaker: Heather Graham with CAPES and LEARNS
Mike, Johnny, Karen, and Heather can help get signatures. Volunteers are needed to become certified to get signatures and to help those who already are certified. We have to have 1,000 ACCEPTED signatures by the end of July. In the past, about 60% are rejected. One month is gone and we only have less than 10% of the signatures needed. If you have a church, a business, or any public area that can be used to collect signatures, we need it. She can set up anywhere, anytime. We are documenting and training volunteers to help get signatures now to help with the accepted/rejected rate. This is truly a bi-partisan issue. Signing this petition just puts it back to the people to vote on, and does not get rid of LEARNS.
Discussion: Johnny Rickman asks where the QC is with the paper ballot issue. JoAnn brought out that in the last OP meeting, a few of its own members mentioned that they could not find any fault with our voting machines and that the machines were more accurate than they were. Bob Bodenhamer agreed that the QC is with us.
Vice Chair Derek Huber adjourned the meeting at 10:47 a.m.
Next Meetings:August 5th: Baxter County Library 10:00 a.m. (VAN training with Austin Ross)
September 2nd: Baxter County Library 10:00 a.m.
October 7th: TBD
November 4th: Baxter County Library 10:00 a.m.
December 2nd: Baxter County Library 10:00 a.m.
August 5th: Baxter County Library 10:00 a.m. (VAN training with Austin Ross)
