Tag: precinct committeeman

Coin toss settles tie in precinct chair election for Democrats: Alessia Modjarrad

From left: Karen Granger, David Henry, Alessia Modjarrad
David Henry holds the 1922 silver dollar used for the coin toss.
From left: Karen Granger and Alessia Modjarrad.

Alessia Modjarrad will be the new precinct chair for the Bloomington 23 precinct, a predominantly university student area on the north side of town.

That was the outcome of a coin flip on Friday afternoon, which settled a tie between Modjarrad and Karen Granger in Tuesday’s elections.

Presiding over the coin toss was Democratic Party chair David Henry. Under Indiana Democratic Party rules, it’s the county chair who determines how to break the tie. Continue reading “Coin toss settles tie in precinct chair election for Democrats: Alessia Modjarrad” →

Political notebook: 19 contested precinct “committeeman” races for Monroe Democrats

Among the recent filings for the 2022 elections were 84 declarations by local Democrats for a position that is called “precinct committeeman” in the Hoosier state’s election law.

A precinct is the smallest geographic political boundary area. Generally, other areas—from congressional districts to city council districts—use precincts as their basic building blocks. There are 82 precincts in Monroe County.

No Republicans filed for the position of precinct committeeman this year.

That’s not a scandal. Republicans elect their committeemen on a different four-year cycle. The selection of Republican committeemen will come in 2024.

This year’s Democratic Party filings for precinct committeeman cover 59 out of the county’s 82 precincts. These positions are known as “precinct chairs” for the Dems.

That translates into several contested races—19 of them, in fact. One of the races for precinct chair includes four candidates.

The deadline for withdrawal from a race passed last Friday at noon, so the ballots should reflect all those contested races, when they’re made available for public inspection by the election division on Feb. 18.

Is the sheer number of 19 contested races for Democratic Party precinct chairs remarkable? If so, what, if anything, explains it? Continue reading “Political notebook: 19 contested precinct “committeeman” races for Monroe Democrats” →