The issues that are critical to an effective democracy are issues that are important to most people, regardless of party or political affiliation. We need to find a common ground – without that, there can be no future. The Windsor County Democratic Committee’s (WCDC) hope is to inform the Windsor County public of how each of the issues that are stated in the Vermont Democratic Committee’s Platform are critical to all Vermonters – whether the impact of climate change to the lack of equity in health care, childcare, the lack of affordable housing, to the opioid crisis to creating a fair and equitable justice system, and ultimately to make Vermont a place where people of diverse backgrounds and life experiences can live with acceptance.
The mission of the WCDC is to expand the base of democratic voters in Windsor County, and in so doing, to strengthen our democratic town committees. Strong town committees will strengthen the county committee, allowing for a solid information flow between leadership and membership. In addition, the WCDC’s goal is to identify and develop strong candidates for elected positions at the town, county and state levels who share our beliefs and values. Finally, the WCDC will develop programs within the county to support and uplift the Vermont Democratic Committee’s party platform.
The WCDC understands that without a strong, committed and engaged base of support, we cannot move forward with our goals and objectives. To that end, a primary goal is to work from the ground up by strengthening our town committees and leadership, by aiding in identifying new voters, to seek out and engage younger voters, and to make participation as seamless and simple as possible.
When we build a solid base of support, where each person feels that they can fit in and participate in some way, all the standard actions and goals can be reached. You will have willing partners to further local community outreach – who will have ideas that may reach the local population more effectively. You will have willing partners who will understand the need for raising funds to support these programs, and support candidates for elective office. You will have willing partners in pursuing the democratic ideals – the ideals that benefit all people.
Here are some practical things to know.
The WCDC is made up of every town in Windsor County that Organizes – which means Democrats within a town meet up and elect a Chair, Vice-Chair, Treasurer and Secretary. This is done bi-annually in non-election years, a process called re-organization (re-org) as required by state statute.
If your position is Town Chair (or Vice-Chair, Treasurer, Secretary) your focus should be on building your Town strengths as a Democratic Party stronghold: adding members, planning actions, GOTV efforts, showing a film or holding a discussion forum on an issue etc. and developing strong communications with the other organized Town Committees, and the WCDC.
Once a set of Officers exist for a town, they as well as the other new town committee members will vote for a specific number of town Delegates to represent your town to the WCDC (and Alternates for those Delegates, in case a Delegate cannot attend a meeting).
The number of Delegates from each newly organized town to the WCDC is set by the Vermont Democratic Party based on the number of democratic versus republican votes cast in the prior election year gubernatorial race results.
The bi-annual reorganization of the WCDC occurs a month after town reorganization. The Delegates from each town meet to elect a Chair, Vice-Chair, Treasurer, Assistant Treasurer and Secretary/Secretaries of the WCDC. They also elect Delegates and Alternates from the WCDC to represent the county at the Vermont Democratic Party State Committee meetings. The State Committee in turn, bi-annually elects a State Chair, Vice Chair, Treasurer and Secretary to form the leadership of the Vermont Democratic Party.
WCDC holds hybrid (in-person with zoom option to dial-in) meetings on the first Monday of the month. Check our Calendar page for actual meeting dates, locations, and zoom links.
Town Officers and town committee members are invited to attend WCDC meetings as well, but only Town Delegates (or their Alternate) can vote. Attendance of Delegates is taken to ensure a quorum per WCDC Bylaws.
The general public is welcome to attend WCDC meetings for education, information on volunteering, and dedication to our Democratic Party principles, etc.
To summarize, the newly formed Democratic Town Committees of Windsor County become part of a group (that they “organized”) which feeds a County-wide group (WCDC) that then feeds a State-wide Group (Vermont Democratic Party) and – yes, you guessed correctly – the State of VT Democratic Party meets up with the other 49 States and some number of territories on a regular basis that form the Democratic National Committee.
This is the classic definition of a grass roots political movement.