EditorThe meeting began at 5:45 p.m. As there was no chairperson of the City Committee present, Rep. Richard Farnsworth was nominated to chair the meeting.
Rep. Farnsworth said that the Democratic caucus would convene at 1 p.m. on Sunday, March 6th at Deering High School. A chairperson would be elected at the start of the caucus after which there would be speeches on behalf of the Presidential candidates and others. Then, all registered voters would be assigned a precinct and precinct room for the caucuses at the precinct level.
Rep. Farnsworth informed the group that Portland is allowed 276 delegates and 276 alternates to the State Convention (which will occur in Portland on Friday and Saturday May 6th and 7th). Once the precinct caucus convenes, the doors will close and no one will be allowed into the room. Attendance will be taken, a head count of the voters in the room will be made, and a caucus chair and secretary will be appointed. The voters will then be asked to move around the room and group themselves according to the candidate of their choice. Then horse trading can occur so numbers of delegates can be calculated for each candidate.
The calculation of delegates requires two levels of counting – first, divide the number of people for each candidate by the total number of people present. That will yield a percentage for each candidate. Then, divide the percentage by the number of people in the room.
Harlan Baker emphasized that precinct caucuses take time.
Rep. Farnsworth then asked for individuals to serve as the Nominating Committee for the election of officers. Those who offered their service were Steve Lovejoy, Doug Lynch and Herb Adams. Voter registration must also be done before February 19th, and absentee ballots for the caucus received 6 days before the caucus.
Herb Adams gave certain facts and statistics about voter registration in Maine. He said of the 1.3 million Mainers, 75.7% are registered to vote. Sixty-seven percent (67%) of the unenrolled nationally are under age 30.
Anne Rand moved to nominate those individuals who attended the January 7th meeting and this meeting to become members of the City Committee. It was then questioned whether the January 7th meeting was in fact a meeting of the City Committee and so Harlan Baker moved to suspend the Rules so as to determine that the January 7th meeting was in fact a City Committee meeting. The latter motion was seconded and all voted in favor. Returning to the previous motion to nominate individuals to become members of the City Committee, the motion was seconded and all individuals who signed their name were accepted as new members. All voted in favor. Those new members are:
           Seth Berner
           Ralph Carmona
           Ben Collings
           Jill Duson
           Rep. Richard Farnsworth
           Eric Gundersen
           Donna Jones
           Alex Landry
           Estelle Lavoie
           Doug Lynch
           Ann Murphy
           Jenn Nappi
           OB O’Brien
           Anne Rand
           Louise Lora S?????
           Michael Sylvester
           Gwynne Williams
           The meeting was then adjourned promptly at 7 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Estelle A. Lavoie
Secretary Pro Tem