With the passage of Proposition 14 in June 2010, elections in California now follow an open primary system in which only the top two vote-getters advance, even if they are from the same political party. Because of this new process Orange County Young Democrats has decided to consider early endorsements in select races. This will enable the club to potentially lend support to it’s endorsed candidates earlier than it normally would, and to transmit that support to the California Democratic Party Annual Convention this February where State Party endorsements will be made.
OCYD will consider early endorsements for the following legislative races:
- 45th Congressional District
- 46th Congressional District
- 47th Congressional District
- 69th Assembly District
- 72nd Assembly District
The first endorsement meeting of 2012 is scheduled for Thursday January 12, 2012: 7:30pm at Bistro 400, 400 W 4th St., Santa Ana, CA 92701-4531
To obtain OCYD’s endorsement, candidates must obtain 60% of the vote of present eligible members. Voting will take place by secret ballot. Each candidate will have 5 minutes to address the club membership before the vote. To check if you are eligible to vote, please email OCYD at info@ocyd.org to confirm your membership status.
Candidates seeking OCYD’s endorsement have the opportunity to submit a 250 statement by no later than Monday, January 9th. These statements will be emailed to their membership on Tuesday, January 10th. They will also appear on the printed ballots. Statements should be submitted to jose@ocyd.org.
If a candidate seeking OCYD’s endorsement cannot attend the meeting they may send a representative to speak on their behalf. The names of representatives for a candidate must be submitted to jose@ocyd.org prior to the meeting by an official campaign representative.