Dear Club Members and Friends,
This message is just a reminder that, during our traditional July-August break, we will not be having a club meeting this month. Regular club monthly meetings will resume in September. In the mean time, please watch your email for details of our annual Club Summer Social event to be held in September.
President’s Message
Dear Club Members and Friends,
The next Club meeting is on Thursday, June 27, 2024, beginning at 5:00 PM. This month, we are starting our meeting at 5:00pm to accommodate those who may want to watch the Presidential debate beginning at 6:00 PM. If we don’t conclude our meeting by 6:00 PM, we ask that you record the debate or watch it later on any of the many streaming sources where it will be available so we can maintain a quorum in our meeting to help us with important endorsements.
The meeting is for the purpose of considering Club friendly endorsements and one critical race endorsement for Democratic candidates in the November 5th, 2024 General Election. “Friendly” endorsements are for incumbent candidates. There are seven races, Solana Beach Mayor, Solana Beach City Council Districts 1 & 3, Del Mar Elementary School Board, Solana Beach School Board Areas 2 & 3, and San Dieguito High School Board Area 4 for which the Board is recommending endorsements at this meeting.
Your Chance to Vote for Important Endorsements- Members will receive a ballot link by email with three days to cast their ballot. Attend the June 27 Zoom meeting to hear the candidates. We Need a Quorum!
Club endorsements are a great benefit to Democratic candidates. Endorsements help candidates raise campaign money and help voters decide which candidates to support. The Democratic candidates are facing new challenges and opportunities in this election. We can help our candidates win their races by joining with other Clubs, and the San Diego County Democratic Party, with endorsements in the upcoming Election.
Under our bylaws, a quorum of regular voting members is required for considering any endorsement and each endorsement requires a 60% supermajority approval by the regular voting members present. I urge every voting member of our Club to make the effort to attend and participate in this important special meeting.
ORDER OF PROCEDURE FOR ENDORSEMENTS AND RATINGS
As the Endorsement meeting is conducted on Zoom, under the CDP waiver of in-person voting rules, the following special rules apply, in accordance with Club bylaws and procedures to the order of procedure for conducting online endorsements.
1. Quorum Present for the Meeting: A quorum of at least 20% of the regular (voting) members must be present to conduct endorsement proceedings.
2. Presentation of the Candidate’s Statement: Each candidate, or the candidate’s representative, will be offered the opportunity to present their remarks to the members, subject to a 5-minute time limit. Each candidate will be asked to present their remarks in the order they appear on the agenda.
3. Question and Answer Period: Following the presentation of each candidate, there will be an opportunity for voting members to ask questions of that candidate. Questions must be limited to asking for clarifications or elaborations on points made by the candidate, or on other issues not mentioned that are pertinent to the office the candidate is seeking. Each question should be stated in 30 seconds or less; must be made in the form of a question; and no statements will be permitted. The question-and-answer period is not an opportunity for debate or argument.
The candidate will be allowed up to one minute to respond to each question. Candidates are expected to respond in a direct manner, and not use the question time for raising additional issues not mentioned by the other candidate or the questioner. A total time of 15 minutes for question-and-answer will be allowed for each race.
4. Candidate’s Closing Statement: At the conclusion of the question-and-answer period, the candidate will have up to 2 minutes for a closing statement.
5. Discussions By Voting Members: Following the closing statements for all candidates, the non-voting members, guests, candidates and their representatives, will be assigned to a separate chat room to wait for the conclusion of the voting members’ considerations, or may leave the meeting. The chat room will not have video or audio access to the deliberations and voting of the voting members until the voting has been completed.
During the Discussion Period of voting members, members may address questions, comments, or make statements to the assembled voting members. This portion of the meeting will not be recorded. The Club Secretary will not record the discussions during this period in the official minutes. Voting members may request to be recognized by use of the “Raise Hand” feature on Zoom.
Members will be recognized in the order in which their “raise hand” button is actuated. When recognized, the member may address one or more issues or candidates and will be allowed 30 seconds in which to do so. Other voting members are not permitted to respond to a member’s comments, except as part of their own comments when recognized by the Chair. The Discussion period will continue until every member present has had at least one opportunity to speak and, at the discretion of Chair, no more than fifteen minutes additional time may be allowed.
6. Voting Procedures for Members:
The balloting will be initiated by an email sent to each voting member of the Club, using the OpaVote program previously used by the Club.
The email will include an online link to the ballot. Each member who accesses the link provided in the email will be considered as being “present” for the vote. Each voting member will be able to cast only one ballot. The votes will be anonymous.
To be approved for endorsement, the candidate must receive at least 60% affirmative votes of the total members “present and voting” at a meeting at which a quorum of eligible members is present. Under this election process, a quorum is achieved if 20% or more of the eligible members access the online link. A supermajority vote is achieved if at least 60% of the completed ballots returned are cast for one of the options on the ballot. For the ballot to be completed, the voting member must “send” or return a filled-in ballot to the online service that tallies the votes. Ballots returned that are not filled in will be considered not complete and will not be counted as voting.
Voting members will have a fixed period (about three days) in which to open and review the email and return the completed ballot by clicking on the “send” button. Results of the email polling on these endorsements will be announced as soon as the results are verified.
ORDER OF ENDORSEMENTS (May be adjusted based on candidates’ schedules)
- Solana Beach City Mayor
- Lesa Heebner
- Solana Beach City Council
- District 1: Dave Zito
- District 3: Jewel Edson
- Del Mar Elementary School Board
- Gee Wah Mok
- Solana Beach School Board
- Area 2: Dana King
- Area 3: Katherine Suël
- San Dieguito High School Board
- Area 4: Kevin Sabellico
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS
Keep in mind that only the County Party may decide the official endorsements of the Party. Our Club, however, may consider endorsement of candidates of our choosing. The two processes, though intertwined, are distinct and different. But to participate in selecting the Party’s endorsements, we must follow the Party’s rules.
In conclusion, I hope to see all our voting members attend and participate. Please try to attend. Your voice and your vote are important to the Club, and to the candidates.
You can view the agenda HERE.
In Solidarity,
Dwight Worden,
President
SPECIAL CLUB MEETING- ENDORSEMENTS (VIA ZOOM)
JUNE 27th, 2024, 5:00 PM
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87106677935?pwd=Qlo1MkVaaysvVTJrR3YrdjBPZzdYdz09
Meeting ID: 871 0667 7935
Passcode: 190259