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Show Review - Thursday, May 6, 1982 - Page 2 The Political Process : What Are Mass Meetings AH About . Anyway?. :.Z'n kinds of mail from the receive candidates including notices of pubhc debates, meetings, etc. One of the advantages of the mass meetings is that a selected few can take the time to really become aprised of each can-didate's 'qualifications and view, something that each citizen does not usually have the time to do. The delegates then attend the primary convention and narrow the candidates down to no more than two. Should a candidate get 70 percent of the delegates' votes at the convention then there would be no primary for that party. If there are two, then the vote goes to the public in a primary election to be held this year on Sep-tember 14th. Following the primary, the choice for each office is reduced to no more than one candidate per party. Then the general election to decide between the parties is held on November 2nd. The Republican party is holding their county primary convention on June 5th at Mountain View High School in Orem, and their state primary convention in the Salt Palace on June 25th and 26th. The Democratic county primary con-vention is set for June 5th also at Provo High School and the state primary will be held July 9th in the Salt Palace. These conventions are open to the public, however, only the delegates are allowed to vote on the chairman in his assist the county duties and to coordinate fundra.sing within the district and the county. At the meeting a secretary, and treasurer are also selected. The meeting also serves to select registration agents and judges within the district. The judges more commonly known as pollsters oversee the actual elections making sure the voters get registered, that each voter only gets one vote, and that the votes get tallied at the end ot the election. A typical mass meeting went like this- - In a private home or a public building those assembled first listened to a special TV report on mass meetings in which four parties presented information about the political process and the philosophy of their party. Then, in the case of the Democratic meeting, a letter from Mayor Ted Wilson was read. Following this, volunteers to help in varying capacities with the cam-paigns were solicited. Then future fundraising activities were discussed such as a Lagoon day or a. dinner- - : dance. Finally, the district officers and delegates were selected. Often the district chairman will be the one selected as a delegate if the district is allotted only one. Then there is usually time for discussion about the election and the candidates. One lady commented that the senatorial race this year is going to be watched nation-wid- e and that Utah County can decide it since it is the second most-populat-county in Utah. What happens now? The names of the delegates and officers are filed at the Countv Clerk's office where they - Hy LINDA HARRIS Historically the term "political machine" conjures up thoughts of lopsided political manipulating by small groups intent on controlling a party, deciding who is to run for any .. office, and who is to hold the key jobs in government. But in contemporary politics that as . aptly might refer to the political i process we go through, or perhaps ..better, the candidates go through, in getting elected. We, the general . public, set off this machine each year or so at a place that has come to be known as the mass meeting. . This mass meeting is certainly different than the one advertised on a circular May 5, 1886 which read as follows: ATTENTION WORKWOMEN! MASS MEETING TONIGHT AT 7:30 O'CLOCK, at the Haymarket, Randolph St., Bet. Desplaines and Halsted. Good ' Speakers will be present to denounce the latest atrocious act of the police, the shooting of our fellow-workme- n yesterday afternoon. The Executive Committee. That meeting really started off with a bang when someone threw a bomb in the midst of the gathering. Though j the mass meetings last Tuesday fired up everyone's enthusiasm about the upcoming election those attending are probably glad they didn't have j quite the excitement created at the Haymarket meeting. While mass meetings most likely go back as far as our political party system some other parts in that political machine are a little newer. For instance, the right to vote in secret did not come about until over 100 years after the signing of the Constitution. During the years since 1888, every state has adopted some form of secret ballot. Also the first primary wasn't held until 1842. Prior to that party bosses had been selecting the candidates for state and local offices either in or outside party conventions. But by 1916 forty-fou- r of the forty-eig- states held primaries. With the primaries, the people finally were able to decide who would be a candidate. But then the question was raised-W- ill we be certain to get the kinds of laws and government we want? A party, known as the Progressive party, tried to solve this problem by the use of three reforms. One was known as the initiative, a petition signed by a set number of voters. The petition would ask for a certain law to be passed and then the decision was put before the voters ra'her than the legislature. The referendum was another reform which put the laws before the people on a ballot. And finally, the Progressives initiated a process called recall which meant the people, by vote, could remove an elected official. Well, some of those reforms have stayed with us at least in part. But the system of electing our officials has changed a lot. Up until 1912 the state legislatures chose the two senators to represent their state in Washington. The Seventeenth Amendment changed all that and we now have a system which involves the party mass meetings, primary conventions, primary elections, and general elections. The purpose of the mass meetings held last Tuesday night throughout the State were primarily to select delegates to go to the primary con-vention. The State is divided into voting districts. As the population grows, those boundaries may be readjusted as was the case this year with the creation of a new State congressional district. The county had to change a lot of their districts according to the lines created by the State legislative reapportionment. Ordinarily by law, a district should have no more than 500 people. However, Mr. William Huish, County Clerk for Utah County, states there are some districts this year that have 700 voters in them because of the boundary changes, while other only have seven or eight. In Pleasant Grove last night one of the Republican districts, District 4 only had four people at their meeting becaused of the realignment while District 10, who got some of the people previously in District 4, was almost overcrowded.. The mass meetings also serve the purpose of selecting a district chairman, who will then serve for a year, directing the affairs of the party in that district, especially as they relate to the upcoming election. The chairman's first responsibility is to identify the voters in his district that are of the same party and plan ways to encourage them to turn out at the polls. He also has the responsibility to candidates. John McKinney, Republican Area Chairman, who has been going to mass meetings ever since he has been old enough to vote and has held various offices in his district and - area, seems to exemplify what one individual can do in making the political machine run. will be certified and made available for anyone to see. The delegates selected at the mass meetings will OF THS MONTH FLORAL B'a I0,1U Prl"'- Elastic band. 50 cotton, 50 Polyester. MEWS EV-.C- Heayy Ill 20ts Provide WW JSure Qrlp" VjJJ durability, tlf "QmaHHm UnHtf Allreds Building Supply -- P.G. 200 E. State 785-222- 1 t a g a i F A new sign tSlllp of quality. ''Z- IHQME IFRONT" jj Now, when you think of the highest quality in home exterior products and jj g$X? H installation, think of this sign. ' C V p HI llllfc 'MMIIIIIIIlllimillMIIMMMMMMMI All of your Mother's Day ' El Shopping in One Stop ! y Fork ; tf Center j j jj i 650 East State Road our Mother's Day Ads on the fSee following pages: ' Annie's - Page 13 r ,y I Sf "O. House of Ivins - Page 4 I'fA CtvVs Alpine Book - Page 12 I w AX xA IfLe Dress Express " pr-- e 14 i V' hfC sty,ist 1 Pae 19 I C i i Diamond Exchange Page 16 .. i i Home Front Furnishes rH 20 Savings on Mother's Day. I All summer furniture, including exclusive Tropitonc brand is on sale Garden Windows and Walls at 20 off in honor of Mom. I . stQrm M - a i pato Covers . patj0 Awnings Enclosures 1000 South State j .i--r TBS j pP 1 '"-x'-l i'- . - I, h 1 .";r7L I - '' " 8 ' - ,''', if r) r i s v 10 Mi t : " v. J5 . 3 --ssssT Lunch Lady to Retire High as manager for five years. In 1973, she moved to the district office as coordinator. Under her direction, the district employs 275 contract and personnel. She and her husband, Glen E. (Bill) live in Lindon and have raised their family there. They are the parents of two children and seven grandchildren. Pauline H. Lewis, director of Alpine School District's food service, will retire in June, following 29 years in the district school lunch program. Lewis, who has serviced the district on each level of responsibility in the food program-substitu- te worker, regular cook, unit manager, coordinator, and then the Director of Food Service-sa- id she had reached a career goal she had set for herself. She was born and raised in Leamington, Utah, and graduated from Delta High School. Her education also includes seminars at Brigham Young University and Utah State University. As director of Alpine's food service, she has supervised thirty seven schools and Clear Creek Camp. She has two coordinators working under her direction. It has been Mrs. Lewis' responsibility to make certain that a type A meal is served to over 18,000 students daily. Lewis firmly believes in the school lunch program and reported that she has continually strived to give the students a nutritional, well balanced meal each day. She started to work for the district in 1954 on a substitute basis, went on contract in 1956 at Central Elementary in Pleasant Grove where she worked for twelve years. Lewis then went to Pleasant Grove Junior t S' , j f i I , ' PAULINE H. LEWIS |
