Activity 5 – Preparing for the Convention

people lining up

Activity 5 – Material Links

OBJECTIVE:

To prepare for a State Political Party Convention.

MATERIALS:

  • Kids Voting Convention Response Sheet
  • Delegate Chart identifying the number of delegates/alternates for each high school

GET READY:

  • Prepare the list of names of the delegates that will represent your school and their party affiliation.

INSTRUCTIONS:

  • Select the number of delegates and alternates to the convention. We suggest the most defensible system would be the direct election of delegates from all those students who:
    1. Express an interest in becoming a delegate
    2. Are able to attend the convention
    3. Express a willingness to work for their party and an eagerness to participate fully
  • To help us prepare for the state convention, we would need to have the names of the delegates for credential preparation by October 7.

After the selection as party delegates, each party delegation needs to select its officers. These officers include (within small delegations, delegates may assume more than one officer position:

  1. Chair – is the official leader of your county delegation, as such calls meetings of the delegation at the state delegation, meets with other county delegation leaders.
  2. Vice-Chair – assists the county delegation leader in the duties listed above.
  3. Credentials Officer – checks to make sure all delegation members have the proper materials to be seated at the state convention.
  4. Platform Committee Chair – make sure the delegation is fully aware of the implications of each party position and helps to guide the delegation toward a reasonable platform, meets with other platform chairs to help shape platform planks.
  5. Campaign Chair – if the delegation has a candidate for Governor, the campaign chair helps to head up the candidate’s campaign, meet with other campaign chairs, and state party leaders to garner candidate support and formulate candidate campaign materials.

Develop a County Party Platform that will be submitted to the State Platform Committee.

POSSIBLE DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

  • What are the characteristics of a good party delegate?
  • How should you go about selecting a party delegate?
  • What is the purpose of the party delegate?
  • How did you prioritize the party platform issues?

MORE:

  • Invite a local party leader to your classroom to discuss convention protocol.
  • Invite a local party leader to share his/her experience attending a state or national party convention.