Important opportunity for local Democrats

||| FROM DAVID TURNOY for SAN JUAN COUNTY DEMOCRATS |||

A lot of folks have relocated to the islands the last couple of years, and you may not be aware that we have a very progressive and active county Democrats organization. Our platform, which you can find HERE, reflects our progressive values.

We support Medicare for All, a Green New Deal, a woman’s right to choose, reducing our military spending to spend more on societal needs, and a whole host of progressive positions. We sometimes find ourselves in disagreement with the people at the top of our national party, and there are times that we have to remind the national leaders of what the Democratic Party stands for: the duty of government is to make freedom, justice, and opportunity a reality for all and to promote the welfare of all of us. So we work within the national Democratic Party to try to move it in a progressive direction.

Our county party meets almost every month, usually the second Saturday of the month at 10 a.m. on Zoom. We discuss issues, decide on actions to take, have guest speakers on various topics, and we have appearances by our legislators and by candidates running for office. We make endorsements for primary and general elections, and the general election postcard we send out has a large influence in this Democratic-majority-voting county. During the state legislature’s sessions, we send out actions to take on legislation we recommend supporting or opposing.

If you would like to be on our email list to receive periodic updates on our activities, you can sign up HERE. Membership does not cost anything, but of course we appreciate any donations.

As chair of the county Democrats, I am particularly excited about the fact that the county is adding four new precincts in order to make representation a bit more equitable. That is the reason you recently received a new voter card, as the
precinct numbers have changed. While San Juan Island will remain at nine precincts, Orcas is increasing from four to seven, and Lopez is adding one more precinct to move from two to three.

The exciting part is that each precinct gets to have a precinct committee officer (PCO). These are individuals who are elected or appointed to represent their precinct at our monthly meetings. They also have the right to vote on certain matters that general members do not. To run for PCO, you file with the county the same week as candidates for any other positions; this is the third week in May, this year from May 16-20. You can file online for PCO, but the site won’t be available until May 16. If you are interested in finding out more about what a PCO does, feel free to contact me.

I am going to give you a geographic description of the precincts on Orcas that will need PCOs. One of our current PCOs is stepping down, so we will actually have four of these spots open for new people to file to run. After examining the maps,
here is my understanding of the new precincts:

• 21 Orcas North – This is north of Enchanted Forest Lane at its western end to Green Cow, then north of Elderberry, then northwest of Orcas Road to Lovers Lane, west of Lovers Lane to Mt. Baker Road on up to the water.  This is a new precinct needing a PCO.
• 23 Orcas Central – South of Main and west of North Beach in town, south and east of Orcas Road heading out of town, east of Crow Valley Road to West Sound, south to Eastman.  This is new and needs a PCO.
• 24 Orcas South – South of Eastman to bottom of the island.  Our current PCO is stepping down, so this one needs a new PCO.
• 25 Eastsound North – East of Blanchard to Terrill Beach Road and Barbary, south to Mt. Baker Road, west to Lovers Lane, south to Main.  This is a new precinct, needs a PCO.
• On Lopez, they are carving out a new precinct to include the village and along Fisherman Bay.  It is really hard to determine street boundaries on the map.  Someone living in town or along the bay would be located correctly for this
  precinct. If you know anyone in this area who might be interested, be sure to let them know about this opportunity.

Maps of each precinct are on the county website. To see the whole county broken down into precincts, go HERE. 

If you have any questions about which precinct you are in, feel free to contact me. You might also look at the new voter card you just received. If you want to be involved in supporting progressive change and helping good candidates to get elected, I invite you to join with us. As we have seen in recent years, preserving democracy is not a spectator sport.