Horsham Democratic Committee

Horsham Democrats elected two candidates to the Horsham Township Council, and they'll be sworn in at the January 2nd Council meeting.

Now let's back them up by getting some volunteers on the various Township Boards and Commissions. There are 11 of these committees, and currently six of them have openings:

• Horsham Planning Commission - 4 Year Term
• Horsham Water & Sewer Commission - 5 Year Term
• Park & Recreation Board - 5 Year Term
• Police Pension Advisory Committee - 4 Year Term
• Industrial & Commercial Develop Authority - 5 Year Term
• Zoning Hearing Board - 3-Year Term

A list of all 11 committees; purpose and duties; current members; links to agendas and minutes; and when they meet can be seen on the Township website:  http://horsham.org/pView.aspx?id=10493&catid=610

The way for Democrats to gain a say in Horsham is to be CIVICALLY ENGAGED!

You can engage by submitting an application to serve on a committee. Please send a brief letter to the township office describing your interest, and include your resume (if applicable): Horsham Township, 1025 Horsham Road, Horsham, PA 19044 by December 31st. All valid applications must be considered, and appointments will be made at a January Council meeting. Applications are also put on file, and drawn from if and when something opens up at a later date.

Please contact us if you have any questions about serving,

Thanks,

Peggy Leiby, 215-643-4397
and
Patrick Costello, 215-768-1597

here are the UNOFFICIAL results, as posted this morning at https://electionresults.montcopa.org:

For Hatboro-Horsham School Board, Jennifer Wilson was elected!

For Horsham Town Council, Veronica Hill-Milbourne and Bill Gallagher are #2 and #3 and will be elected in a tight race if the vote tally is confirmed:

 Thanks to everyone who worked on the campaign, and who came out and voted on a rainy and cold day. Your efforts DO make a difference! 

With Horsham Township almost evenly split between Republicans and Democrats (with a few independents), shouldn’t the council and school board representation also be a mixture, rather than a Republican monopoly? Lacking regular, vigorous newspaper coverage of these meetings, or televised meetings that residents could watch from home, the best way to ensure transparency in our local government is to make it bipartisan. Be sure to vote on Nov. 7 and elect Veronica Hill-Milbourne and Bill Gallagher to township council, and Jennifer Wilson to Hatboro-Horsham School Board.

Horsham Township’s five council members are elected at-large, meaning that each council member represents the entire township, rather than one of the township’s four voting districts. It’s a small-scale version of having senators (who represent an entire state) instead of members of the House of Representatives (who represent smaller geographic areas within the state). Is this system better or worse than electing a council member from each district?

According to Benjamin Knoll, a political science professor at Centre College in Danville, Ky., about 40% of U.S. municipalities, typically larger urban areas, use district elections, and this format usually is better for representing racial and ethnic minorities, who may be clustered geographically  in a few voting districts. (Voters also may be clustered along party lines.)

 At-large elections are more common in affluent, racially homogenous municipalities. Both systems have their pros and cons: With a district system, council members would be more geographically representative of the township (an at-large system raises the possibility of all council members living in the same neighborhood). However, voters would only be able to vote for the council member from their district. In an at-large system, voters can vote on all council candidates, and the candidate pool is larger. Council members elected by district are accountable to their district; those elected by an at-large system are accountable to the entire township.

Make your voice heard and vote on Tuesday. 

SOURCES

https://informationknoll.wordpress.com/2010/10/20/at-large-vs-district-elections/

http://www.muskogeephoenix.com/archives/ward-vs-at-large-voting-on-ballot/article_1941c2c9-7a84-59bf-92d3-1edb53c25ece.html

http://www.nlc.org/municipal-elections

On Election Day, November 7, help out by working as a greeter at the polls. Greeters hand out sample ballots and assist voters in identifying which Democratic Candidates to vote for.

If you don’t know about crossfiling, don’t feel bad. They didn’t teach this in high school history. But it explains why the Democratic ballot in this fall’s general election will have some Republicans on it (more on what to do about that later.)

What is crossfiling?

Under state law, only candidates for judgeships, district justice posts and school board seats can file nominating petitions to appear on the ballot for both the Democratic and Republican parties, according to the Pottstown Mercury. These positions are considered not political. Or at least, they weren’t in 1937 when the law was passed.

Did you know there are only about 700 more registered Republicans than Democrats in Horsham?

Did you know that in the school board election 4 years ago, it would only have taken 900 more votes for a Democrat to have won a seat?

So if you think a Democrat will never win in Horsham, it’s time to think again. In 2013, only about 1,600 Democrats went to the polls, compared with over 5,300 last year. For Jennifer Wilson to win in November, we need to get a good number of those who normally sit out off-year elections to the polls.

How do we do that? By KNOCKING ON DOORS!!

Even with the rise of social media, the best way to get people motivated and to the polls is by door-to-door canvassing. If you want to DO SOMETHING NOW to change politics, then COMMIT to at least 2 hours of door-to-door canvassing between now and the election.

Better still, sign up for 3 shifts.

We will train you, provide you with a script and campaign literature and give you a territory with a list of carefully screened voters. Those 900 missing votes? That’s 50 votes in each of Horsham’s 18 precincts. The best way to get those votes is for YOU to SIGN UP to canvass.

Better still, get 4 others to join you.

We can’t elect a new President until 2020, or send a new Representative to Congress until 2018, but we CAN elect a Democrat to the School Board in 2017. It’s time to channel some of your energy and outrage to direct action that will lead to change now.

What can you do RIGHT NOW?

SIGN UP to canvass, and attend our Day of Action, Saturday, July 15. Hear from local Democrats, meet other volunteers, get trained to canvass and hit the streets and speak to your neighbors about the need for change in Horsham, starting with Jennifer Wilson for School Board. If you won’t do what it takes to change things, who will?

My childhood pastor used to say the best way to convey an idea was to wrap it up in a person. Canvassing for a political candidate is similar, providing interaction and a human face to a process that most Americans regard with cynicism or ignore. That human touch may be even more crucial in local elections, which don’t draw the kind of news coverage that state and national elections do (and many municipalities no longer have a robust local newspaper). Can you name your local government officials? Do you know their political affiliations and platform? Would you recognize any of them if you ran into them in the grocery store?

This is just one reason for canvassing--educating the voters (yourself included). Canvassing also educates the candidates: According to the BBC, “Canvassing is still the best way of getting a feel for what people are thinking and talking about in a constituency so that you can fine tune your message."