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You have no doubt read much in the newspapers, seen much on television and heard much on radio about the tumultous State Democratic Convention which was held in Salem, Virginia, on Saturday July 27, 1968.
This was the second State Democratic Convention this writer has attended, and he is still trying to cut his way through the procedural jungle to determine how actions are originated and processed and how final conclusions are reached in this seeming air of congestion, confusion and haste.
There are all too few people who are willing to become involved in the political affairs affecting their localities, their counties, their states and the Nation. There are all too many people who do not know how they can become so involved. And there are some who cannot refrain from placing an undesirable connotation upon the word “politics”, even though it is through politics that the highest functions of citizenship are performed.
My purpose here is to portray some idea of how a State Democratic Convention is organized and how it functions, or should function. There were a number of voluble deviations from prior normal procedure at the Salem Convention, but passing time and ensuing events will be needed for an intelligent judgment of these. The two organizations closest to the voting citizen are: (1) the! County (or City) Democratic1 Committee; and (2), the District j Committee. There are ten district committees in the state,i representing the area covered by the ten congressional districts, and made up of representatives from the several county and city committees in each district.
Each county and city committee elects delegates and alternates to the State Convention with a specified number of votes. The number of votes to which each committee is entitled is determined on the basis of the number of votes cast for the Governor in that particular county or city in the last general election. The number of delegates sent to the convention do not necessarily have to equal the number of votes allocated to that county or city, as many counties and cities send more delegates than they have votes. In this case, fractional parts of votes are assigned to the
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