Thursday, June 08, 2006

Precinct Committee Workers Needed--Attorneys Apply Here

As a member of the Indianapolis Bar Association, I have become accustomed to receiving solicitations for volunteer opportunities on a fairly regular basis. But the solicitation I received today in the form of a special bulletin struck me as a little odd. Under the heading, "Marion County Elections Workers Needed", it read:

A number of vacancies exist in Marion County for precinct committeepersons and vice- precinct committeepersons in preparation for the November 2006 election, according to information provided to the IBA. First-rate invididuals are needed to fill these important positions and we think our members can help.

If you or a colleague would like to serve either the Democratic or Republican party in Marion County as a precinct committee person, please contact the following individuals:

Marion County Democratic Party -- Ed Treacy, Chairman, (317) 637-3366 or marioncountydemocrats@yahoo.com by June 16, 2006.

Marion County Republican Party -- Mike Murphy, Chairman, or Megan Robertson, (317) 635-8881 or mrobertson@indygop.com


Having formerly served as a Marion Co. GOP precinct committeeman and as a precinct committeeman when I lived in Illinois, I'm quite familiar with the responsibilities of the job. I would first observe that the job is not well-suited for most attorneys. It requires a lot of leg work, such as registering voters, finding poll workers, getting voters to the polls and otherwise managing the party's efforts in the precinct on election day. Most attorneys I know would consider that grunt work. There are only a couple of responsibilities that attorneys are perhaps good at--that includes buying and selling tickets to fundraisers. Then again, maybe that's all the two parties are looking for from their committeepersons. I suspect that Mike Murphy wouldn't welcome a call from me though.

3 comments:

Wilson46201 said...

One does not need to be an attorney to be a precinct committeeperson. Either party will gladly accept volunteers. When precinct committeepeople had power, there were major election battles for the job. Nowadays it's a civic duty.

People ask me why I'm a precinct committeeperson, I explain it's like teaching Sunday School: it's just something good to do ...

Anonymous said...

My experience is that I often prefer volunteer assignments that are DIFFERENT from my day job. So perhaps there is an attorney or two who'd like the opportunity to wander around their neighborhood, meet a few people who aren't paying them for their time, and round up some folks to fill their poll on election day.

credo said...

This is grow there political base. A lobbying for lawyers and their friends.