by Barbara Smith, Chair , former chair of HDTC, Concerned Hamilton Citizen and Activist Blogger for transparency in government.. at Hamilton Wenham Liberals for Democracy
In preparation for my first caucus as chair of the Hamilton DTC and first virtual one ever (I blieve), I am sharing the following information and links.
Why hold a caucus?
The caucus takes place annually to elect delegates to the MassDems Convention. The town of Hamilton is allowed to elect 4 delegates and 4 alternate delegates. In addition, the chair is allowed to be a delegate without being elected. I plan to virtually attend the 2021 convention scheduled for 9/25/21. The convention will be hybrid with both people attending in-person (in Lowell) and virtually.
There are 1,229 registered Democrats in Hamilton
The caucus is an open Democratic Party
No person shall be denied admittance
Participants who are not registered Democrats may be directed to a viewing link or be removed if disruptive
Cost of being a delegate
The fee is $75.00 and $50.00 for students, seniors and persons with disabilities. The Mass Dems encourages town committees to subsidize the fee for our delegates and alternates. However, since we do not currently collect dues or any other fees, this is not available. However, people who seek a waver may fill out the following form.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeFn8kdPPIxpmOQ0wq1wR4muGLd62MQx-i8tEBwyz_e4xEVyQ/viewform
Announcing the Caucus
Hamilton Democrats will be notified no sooner than 30 days before and at least 7 days before the July 13th caucus date. I will place announcements at the Town Clerk, Facebook page, and media. It already appears on the massdems.org website. In addition, Anna Siedzik, Outreach Coordinator will contact various media to reach a diverse audience.
The caucus is open to all registered and pre-registered Democrats in Hamilton. Pre-registered Democrats who will be 16 by June 15, 2021 will be allowed to participate and run as a Delegate or Alternate. Hamilton can elect 4 Delegates and 4 Alternates to the convention.
Youth, minorities, people with disabilities, and LGBTQ+ individuals who are not elected as a Delegate or Alternate may apply to be an Add-on Delegate at the caucus or at www.massdems.org by August 6, 2021.
Attending the Caucus
Democrats who wish to participate virtually may register at
Please register for the zoom in advance and indicate whether you are a D for democrat or a G for guest. Then the zoom manager will rename participants with either a D-name or G-name. For example, I am D-Barbara Smith.
During the Caucus
- Caucus team arrives at 6:00 pm …… at least one hour before the start time of 7:00 pm
- Registration shall open at 6:30….least 30 minutes prior to 7:00 pm
- zoom manager will use google sheet for attendance. Barbara will copy this onto a hard copy later to mail to Mass Dems
- Registration ends at 7:15….. 15 minutes after stated caucus time of 7:00 pm.
- Volunteers may verify if caucus goer is a registered or a pre-registered Democrat. Registered Zoom participants may be verified earlier.
- While Barbara explains and reads info, zoom manager will be answering questions and providing links to forms and other info.
Agenda– (Chair will speak on the following)
- Introduction and overview
- Affirmative Action Statement
- Review the rules (the Method of Selecting Delegates)
- Ex-officio Delegates
- Letter from the Chair (Gus Bickford)
- Delegate fee waiver
- The nomination and election of Delegates and Alternates
Documents to be shared during caucus
- sign in sheet ( google form to be shared during caucus)
- Chair certification form https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc289fCP2Tl4hGIX_wi4_Wkpc-LczhX_3TDOq1WYD71YvALWA/viewform
- Delegate Certification Form https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeOt0hnwLUmxphsilDGGuVQZE9M8MPFdQuOgUTmd67E8XRlvA/viewform
- Alternate Certification Form https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeOt0hnwLUmxphsilDGGuVQZE9M8MPFdQuOgUTmd67E8XRlvA/viewform
- Ballot https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeoFarWc9YskxODqk820IzWYwTcUF-IJUMJEdA8iTWTWj4r3g/viewform
- Alternate Ballot https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeU2dkRRMAUj5BizQRUL5VocJYrxc08ydVMcXfvXZH7_lD9Pg/viewform
- Sample Tally Sheet https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeoFarWc9YskxODqk820IzWYwTcUF-IJUMJEdA8iTWTWj4r3g/viewform
- Consent to Nominate Form Hamilton Caucus Attendance and Consent to Nominate – Google Forms
- Delegate/Alternate payment form https://secure.actblue.com/donate/mdpconvention2021
- Delegate/alternate fee waiver form https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeFn8kdPPIxpmOQ0wq1wR4muGLd62MQx-i8tEBwyz_e4xEVyQ/viewform
- add-on aplication https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc4h2N1nyJaWKub9yPXBe5kkh8N5YLdtkgfBE6Dg2LKubPNqw/viewform
- 2021 Method of Selecting Delegates – Google Docs
- 2021 Preliminary Call to Convention: SHARED – Google Docs
- 2021 delegate and alternate allocation 2021 https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Nw6dJBa8C8b3azkkt6kvKFfeAvtQAkHLQZT3tmfwIuE/edit (Hamilton is alloted 4 delegates and 4 alternate delegates)
Post-Caucus
Barbara will mail the following forms to 11 Beacon St. Suite 410, Boston, MA 02106 within 7 days of the caucus
- caucus sign-in sheet
- Consent to nominate forms (write virtual next to names)
- Chair certification form
- Delegate/alternate/ex-officio certifical forms
- Add-on delegate fomrs (if applicable)
- Payment forms (if applicable)
- fee waver forms (if applicable)
thanks, very interesting 🙂