Super Precincts
Purpose, Benefits, Structure, and Chair Responsibilities
25 Feb 2023
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Purpose
The purpose of Super Precincts is to strengthen the Travis County Democratic Party organization to fulfill its mission more effectively and efficiently.
Benefits
Bolsters Precinct Chairs
Allows for greater engagement/voice
Increases support and mentoring
Eases workload by sharing resources
Facilitates finding quality candidates for precincts without Chairs
Delivers more consistent and tailored year-round organizing and GOTV
Allows local campaigns to be more competitive, efficient, and effective through collaboration
Creates a stronger deterrent to opposing entities
Structure
A Super Precinct is a structured team of adjacent precincts that collaborate to achieve common political goals.
For examples, a Super Precinct could be defined by the boundaries of a municipality or school district, an existing club, or just shared common geography.
Super Precincts may self-organize with approval from the County Chair or be formed by the County Chair.
Consideration should be given to the number of precincts and the physical size and shape to ensure a Super Precinct remains manageable.
Each Super Precinct shall have a Chair, appointed by the County Chair or elected by the Precinct Chairs in the Super Precinct, who serves a two-year term coinciding with the terms of Precinct Chairs.
Super Precinct Chairs shall have relevant experience, such as being a current or former Precinct Chair. However, a Super Precinct Chair candidate without such experience may be approved by the County Chair.
In addition to its Chair, each Super Precinct shall create a Leadership Team consistent with its needs for year-round organizing, and comprised of at least four members, including the Chair.
A healthy Leadership Team, working together, makes better decisions and affords better controls. Another primary benefit is the ability to distribute tasks to prevent overburdening individuals.
Depending on a Super Precinct’s year-round organizing activities, a Leadership Team could include Coordinators for: social media, a newsletter, a website, volunteer recruitment and retention, community socials/meetings/speakers, special events, Super Precinct meeting organization/documentation, Treasurer, voter registration, and more.
Super Precincts that are also organized as a club/PAC, shall follow the applicable laws pertaining to its structure. Those typically include roles for President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer.
Chair Responsibilities
The Super Precinct Chair is the ultimate authority in a Super Precinct and is responsible to ensure all the duties are faithfully executed. Those responsibilities are listed below. However, that does not mean the Chair must personally do everything. A successful Super Precinct Chair will share these responsibilities across the Leadership Team, and others within the Super Precinct.
Serves on the County Chair’s Advisory Committee to improve and expedite county-wide decisions and provide feedback from Precinct Chairs.
A designee from the Super Precinct may serve on the County Chair’s Advisory Committee in lieu of the Super Precinct Chair, if needed, although this approach might be less effective.
Shares TCDP plans/info from the County Chair’s Advisory Committee with the Precinct Chairs on at least a monthly basis, or more frequently, if needed.
Designs and coordinates year-round organizing across the Super Precinct.
This could also include coordinating Super Precinct election activities with other clubs, Super Precincts, and the County.
Year-round organizing training will be offered to the Super Precincts.
Finds Precinct Chairs for all open precincts within the Super Precinct.
Ensures Precinct Chairs have the knowledge, tools, and resources to carry out their missions, and mentors new Precinct Chairs accordingly.
Serves as Club President as a best practice, if the Super Precinct is also organized as a club/PAC, to avoid confusion and conflicts.