Two vacancies exist in the 8th CD (Arlington – male, Fairfax – male). Recommendations to the full 8th District Committee will be considered at the August 15th monthly meeting. See the information below about filling the vacancies in each jurisdiction.
- Filing. Candidates must file in writing with the Chair of the Arlington County Democrats (Kip Malinosky) no later than 5 p.m. on Tuesday, July 26, 2016. Each candidate must certify that he is:
- Registered to vote in Arlington, Virginia
- Male
- A Democrat who believes in the principles of the Democratic Party and who will not, while serving on the 8th District Committee, support or endorse a person who is opposed to a person who has received the Democratic nomination or endorsement for office.
The certification must also contain the candidate’s residence address, e-mail and phone number. The candidate must sign the certification. Certifications may be personally delivered to the Chair, or a scanned version of the certification may be e-mailed to the ACDC Chair; delivery by postal mail, by messenger, via office drop-off or any other method is not sufficient unless the Chair actually personally receives the filing by the deadline. Successful transmission of the certification is solely the responsibility of the candidate. The ACDC Chair in his sole discretion may reject a certification on the ground that the certification is false or incomplete, or was not received by the deadline.
- No candidates. In the event that no qualified candidates have filed by July 26, 2016, the Chair will nominate a candidate for the position, subject to approval by a majority of the ACDC Committee, using the procedures for one candidate, below.
- One candidate. In the event that exactly one qualified candidate has filed by July 26, 2016, ACDC will follow the procedures for one candidate, below.
- Conduct of the election. The election will be conducted as follows:
- Voter registration. From 6:45 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on August 3, 2016 under the direction of the ACDC Deputy Chair or his designee (hereinafter the “Deputy”) each person intending to vote must register. Registrants must sign a pledge form, indicating the following to be true:
- I am a Democrat
- I believe in the principles of the Democratic Party
- I do not intend to oppose a Democratic candidate in the November 2016 general election.
- I am registered to vote in Arlington County, Virginia
- The pledge. The pledge form must also contain the name, street address, telephone number, and e-mail address of the registrant (if the registrant is a voting member of ACDC, name and ACDC title only is sufficient).
- Successful registrants will be issued a credential indicating their entitlement to vote.
- Time of the election. The election will take place at a time between 7:30 p.m. and 9 p.m. on August 3, 2016 determined by the ACDC chair.
- Candidate presentations. Each candidate, in reverse order as the ballot order, will be permitted to address ACDC for 3 minutes. Candidate presentations will be limited to verbal speeches without additional audio/visual materials or demonstrations. The ACDC Chair will retain the right to ensure the ACDC meeting is conducted in an orderly fashion.
- Voting. At the conclusion of the candidate presentations, Democrats with credentials will be issued a paper ballot listing the candidates’ names in random order. Democrats will mark their ballots to choose exactly one candidate. Democrats who did not obtain a paper ballot before 7:30 p.m. will not be permitted to vote. Proxy voting is not permitted – ACDC members who are not present at the meeting at the time of voting will not be permitted to vote.
- Collection of ballots. Ballots will be collected under the direction of the Deputy. After all ballots are collected, the meeting will recess and ACDC will proceed to other business.
- Counting the ballots. Ballots will be counted in an area separate from the main meeting of ACDC under the direction of the Deputy, who shall appoint at least two tellers to conduct the count. Each candidate is permitted to name a designee to observe all aspects of the ballot counting; these observers may not participate in counting the ballots. Ballots will be counted for either one filed candidate or for no candidate (write-in votes will not be valid). Counting will continue, using the instant runoff method (if more than two candidates file), until the tellers agree on a report of the ballot count to include a number of votes for each candidate and a number for indeterminate or invalid ballots. In the event the tellers cannot agree in a reasonable time, the Deputy will report the nature of the disagreement to the ACDC Chair, who will determine how to proceed.
- Report of the results. The tellers will present the report of results to the ACDC Deputy Chair, who will in turn provide the report to the ACDC Chair. The ACDC Chair will provide the report to ACDC.
- Voter registration. From 6:45 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on August 3, 2016 under the direction of the ACDC Deputy Chair or his designee (hereinafter the “Deputy”) each person intending to vote must register. Registrants must sign a pledge form, indicating the following to be true:
- Procedures for one candidate. In the event that exactly one qualified candidate has filed by July 26, 2016, that candidate will be permitted to address ACDC for 3 minutes at the August 3, 2016 ACDC meeting. After the presentation, a motion from the floor to endorse that candidate will be in order. A majority is needed to endorse a candidate. If the vote succeeds, the ACDC Chair will declare that candidate the ACDC endorsee for the 8th District Committee. If the vote does not succeed, the selection of the ACDC endorsee will be tabled until the September 7, 2016 ACDC meeting, subject to procedures determined by the Steering Committee.
- Reporting to the 8th District Committee. The ACDC Chair will keep the 8th District Committee apprised of the progress of the endorsement process, as well as any result reached.
History: Since there is now one male Fairfax vacancy on the Eighth District Committee, the Eighth District Committee has confirmed members presented to it by jurisdictions filling vacancies. Each jurisdiction has its own method for filling vacancies. Fairfax has historically filled vacancies by plurality vote of the existing 8th CD Fairfax members from among Democrats interested in the seat who file by a specified filing deadline.
The Eighth District’s July 18 meeting was canceled at its June 20 meeting.
The filing deadline to fill the male Fairfax vacancy for registered voters in the Eighth District portion of Fairfax County will be two weeks prior to the Eighth’s District’s regularly scheduled meeting of August 15.
Candidates must file in writing with Margo Horner, Chair of the Eighth District Committee, no later than 5:00 p.m., Monday, August 1, 2016, at chair@va8thcddems.org
Each candidate must certify that he is:
a. Registered to vote in the 8th CD of Fairfax County.
b. Male.
c. A Democrat who believes in the principles of the Democratic Party and who will not, while serving on the Eighth District Committee, support or endorse a person who is opposed to a person who has received the Democratic nomination or endorsement for office.
The certification must also contain the candidate’s residence address, e-mail, and phone number. The candidate must sign the certification. Certifications may be personally delivered to the Chair, or a scanned version of the certification may be emailed to the Eighth District Committee Chair at chair@va8thcddems.org
Delivery by postal mail, by messenger, via office drop-off or any other method is not sufficient unless the Chair actually personally receives the filing by the deadline. Successful transmission of the certification is solely the responsibility of the candidate. The Eighth District Committee Chair in her sole discretion may reject a certification on the ground that the certification is false or incomplete, or was not received by the deadline.
The Fairfax delegation has determined that it will make a recommendation to the full Eight District Committee on Monday, August 15, 2016, using the following process: Fairfax candidates and Eighth District Fairfax members will gather at 6:30 p.m., at which time the candidates can meet the Fairfax members face-to-face. All Eighth District Committee members are welcomed and encouraged to attend this meeting to meet the Fairfax candidates.
At 7:00 p.m., the Eighth District’s Fairfax members will hear one minute Candidate Statements from all Fairfax candidates, who duly filed by 5:00 p.m. on August 1. Each candidate in alphabetical order will speak to the assembled Eighth District Fairfax members. Candidate presentations will be limited to verbal speeches without additional audio / visual materials or demonstrations.
Voting: At the conclusion of the one minute Candidate Statements, the Eighth District’s Fairfax members will vote to recommend one candidate to fill the male vacancy.
The name of the filed candidate who received the most votes from the Fairfax Eighth District members will be presented for confirmation to the full Eighth District Committee Membership Meeting which will follow the Fairfax Eighth District Meeting at 8:00 p.m.