February 2015

Montgomery County Republican Party

E-Newsletter 

In This Issue
Executive Committee Meeting February 24
Impact of Straight Ticket Voting
History of Elections Administrators in Montgomery County
Donate to the Local Republican Party
Volunteers!
MCRP Calendar of Events

County Executive Committee Meeting February 24

Munch & Mingle at Headquarters Prior to Meeting

Sponsored by State Representative Mark Keough

 Dr. Wally Wilkerson

The first meeting of the 2015 Montgomery County Republican Party Executive Committee (CEC), consisting of all current Precinct Chairmen, will be held on Tuesday, February 24th at 7:30 pm in Room 402 of the Alan B. Sadler Commissioners Court Building in Conroe 77301 at 501 North Thompson Street. A Vacancy Committee meeting will convene at 6:45 pm on the same day and location to fill a vacancy in Precinct #45 and any other vacancies in the office of Precinct Chair. The Munch & Mingle Social, sponsored by State Representative Mark Keough, will begin at 5:30 pm in the County Headquarters at 310 Metcalf (formerly Collins) Street in Conroe 77301-2856. Light refreshments will be served. The public is invited and welcome to attend any or all of these events.

 

The CEC will hear reports from the Vacancy Committee, the Treasurer, and the Leadership & Organization Committee Chairman. Finance Committee Co-Chairs Rob Eissler and Jimmye Gomez will present the 2015 Budget for approval, and the County Chairman and Executive Assistant Melinda Fredricks will lead a discussion on the 2014 election results. "The Party organization will be working throughout 2015 to prepare for an unprecedented campaign effort to re-elect a Republican Congress and Senate and elect a Republican President. We fully expect and welcome a spirited campaign for the presidential nomination while keeping in mind the absolute necessity of maintaining Party unity," Chairman Wilkerson stated.

 

 General Election
THE IMPACT OF STRAIGHT TICKET VOTES


Straight Party voting has been a part of the Texas electoral system since the Reconstruction era. During this post Civil War Era, Democrats authored a State Election Code designed to discourage or block the formation of any competing political party. For example, The Code prohibited any party from conducting a Primary in the same building with the Democrats; and any site used to conduct another Party Primary had to be conducted in a separate building more than 100 feet from the Democrat location. The Democrats were so successful at the state level that the Republican Party succeeded in holding a Primary election in Texas only once (1926) between 1900 and 1960.

 

Consequently, any effective opposition had to take place in the Democrat Primary. Democrats claimed their Party was essentially a private club and for this reason was free to make rules governing the conduct of its Primary election. Therefore, the Democrats created election rules that prohibited African Americans from participating in the Democrat Primary. In 1948, the Supreme Court overturned those rules, making it illegal to prohibit based on his or her race a person from voting in a Primary. Additionally, for years, the Democrats included in the Election Code a requirement that a pledge be printed on the Party Primary ballot that bound the voter to support the Party candidates in the General election. Democrats used this pledge to mislead their Primary voters into thinking they must vote for the Democrat candidate for president; despite the fact that the State Attorney General ruled the pledge was unenforceable.

 

When the Democrat and Republican Parties became more competitive in Texas, straight Party voting became a major factor in the outcome of elections in Montgomery County and Texas. To understand this, we only have to look at the percent of the straight Party votes to the total number of votes cast in Montgomery County elections beginning in 1996: 1996= Republican (R) 28.29%, Democrat (D) 9.47%, Libertarian (L) 0.26%; 2000= R 39.90%, D 10.27%, L 0.26%; 2004= R 81.5%, D 18.0%, L .045%; 2008= R 79.06%, D 20.34%, L 0.61% and 2012= R 82.58%, D 16.58%, L 0.66%.

 

Spotlight on Public Servants           

ELECTION ADMINISTRATORS HAVE SERVED WELL

 

           

Montgomery County voters have come to take for granted the professional and trustworthy conduct of elections. The Texas Election Code specifies how this important function of government is carried out. Either the County Clerk and Tax Assessor-Collector or an appointed non-partisan Elections Administrator oversees the conduct of County elections in Texas. If there is no Elections Administrator, the Tax Assessor-Collector is solely responsible for the maintenance of the Voter Registration list, while the County Clerk assumes the remainder of the election responsibilities. Prior to 1981, the County Clerk/Tax Assessor-Collector team was responsible for this oversight in Montgomery County.

 

The fledging Montgomery County Republican Party was strongly in favor of an Elections Administrator and lobbied the Commissioners Court in 1981 to create this office. "We were successful in convincing the Court that a non-partisan Elections Administrator was very important. The Court agreed and created this position in 1981," Chairman Dr. Wally Wilkerson noted. The first Administrator was Billie Smith, a long time county employee who resided in Magnolia. She organized the office and served admirably until 1983 when Linda Garner, a county employee who had played a major role in overseeing the conduct of previous county elections while serving in the County Clerk's office, was appointed. The office originally was located in the County Courthouse, but this location was quickly outgrown. A building, formerly housing a car agency and now home of the Owen Theater in Conroe, just south of the Courthouse Square, was purchased by the County. Garner, who oversaw modernization of the election system, served until 2001.

 

Carol Chedsey Gaultney followed Garner. Gaultney, who had served as an Election Judge and Precinct Chairman, skillfully guided the system into the electronic voting age. She retired in 2011. Suzie Harvey, who served with Gaultney in a leadership capacity, then assumed the Administrator's position and serves currently. She oversaw the move to the current Administrator's headquarters located in a building on Airport Road adjacent to the County Expo and Convention Center. The current location has all the required security measures to protect ballot integrity.

 

Montgomery County citizens owe these wonderful and skilled ladies a big Texas THANK YOU!

Donations Help Keep Montgomery County Red
Your financial donation to the local Republican Party does the following:

 

  • Helps maintain marketing and all services of the County Headquarters
  • Helps finance purchase of materials, supplies, equipment and major services
  • Helps maintain computerized voter list of Get-Out-the-Vote program
  • Helps strengthen and expand our Precinct and neighborhood organization
  • Helps expand outreach program to minorities and independents
We have three membership programs to choose from.
  • Sustaining Membership Program
  • Republican Roundtable
  • Business Council 

Click here for more information about joining!

 

Volunteer!

We love our volunteers!
The Republican Party is always looking for volunteers. There are lots of ways you can help.
Calendar of Events

 

Many fun and important activities are on the horizon! Republican Womens' clubs are having great speakers at their monthly meetings. Young Republicans and Teenage Republicans are making plans. Elected officials and candidates for the 2014 elections are having fundraisers. And more!