How to Increase Voter Turnout, Part 1: Strengthening and Utilizing our Local Party Infrastructure

As of December 22nd, 2021, there are 14,107 voters in Pike County, Pennsylvania that are registered as Democrats. In the most recent local county-wide elections, no Democratic candidate received more than 5,000 votes. Democratic candidates did not win these races.

There are many reasons that could explain why 9,107 Democratic voters did not vote in the most recent election. I want to focus on one specific aspect of this that many folks are not aware of — the local infrastructure of the Democratic Party. If this is the first time you are learning about any of this, don’t worry, you are not alone.

Elections happen at every level of government, and the Democratic National Committee has a structure in place to promote federal, state, and local involvement in all levels of elections. At the local level, there is a whole network of committees that are organized by voting precinct. Here is what this looks like in Pike County:

Blooming Grove Township ~ Delaware Township 1~ Delaware Township 2 ~ Dingman Township 1 ~ Dingman Township 2 ~ Greene Township ~Lackawaxen Township 1 ~ Lackawaxen Township 2 ~ Lehman Township 1 ~ Lehman Township 2 ~ Matamoras Boro 1 ~ Matamoras Boro 2 ~ Milford Boro ~ Milford Township ~ Palmyra Township ~Porter Township ~ Shohola Township ~ Westfall Township

Each of these precincts has a designated committee, and each committee has an incredibly important role in the elections process, according to the DNC. Specifically, each committee is responsible for knowing and canvassing the precinct, recruiting and training volunteers, registering new Democratic voters, getting out the vote, and generally being active in the designated community.

Put a different way, in Pike County, there are 18 different committees, made up of 98 potential individuals combined, all to help ensure that the 14,107 registered Democrats in Pike County are part of the electoral process.

I live in the Dingmans 2 precinct, and to be honest with you, I was shocked to hear that this local infrastructure even existed. Pennsylvania is one of a short list of states that always get national attention every election, so I expected to be inundated with postcards, robocalls, and other information about how and when to vote. And I was — I have never received this much attention in an election before. But all of this attention was almost exclusively from either Republican or conservative sponsored organizations. Every time I’ve been to the polls at Dingmans 2, I was shocked — every time — to see candidates and questions on the ballot that I was seeing for the very first time.

From speaking to a lot of folks in Pike County recently, I know that this is an all too common experience. So when I started learning the nuts and bolts of local committees, I was even more shocked to learn that of the 98 potential committee membership slots that make up the Pike County local Democratic infrastructure, only 59 of those seats are actually filled. Some precincts currently have ZERO seats filled. And even though some precincts have over half of their seats filled, why are so many registered Democrats unaware of their existence, unaware of their party’s presence where they live, and most critically, unaware of what we are voting for when we get to the polls? At a time when so much is on the line — our public health response to COVID-19 being such an important one — how can we accept a local infrastructure that is being so grossly underutilized?

The truth is that registered Democrats in Pike County are everywhere, and we need motivated individuals to serve in these committees so that we can utilize the infrastructure and resources available to Pike County Democrats to get out the vote and win elections. The process to do this is fairly straightforward, and Blue Pike PAC is here to help you understand this process, support your candidacy, and once you win, support your efforts in getting out the vote where you live.

In solidarity,

John Steven Hellman

Our goal is to ensure that we have a working, effective Democratic political infrastructure in Pike County. We have witnessed the consequences of not having this, and it is creating an environment that is putting the health and lives of ourselves, our loved ones, and our neighbors at risk. If you have any questions or concerns about any stage of this process, please do not hesitate to reach out by email — bluepikepac@gmail.com.