Democrats to elect officials for convention

By Jim Tiffin
Cibola County Bureau

GRANTS — The Democratic Party of Cibola County plans an election for officers, ward officials and delegates to send to the state Democratic Party meeting, which is set for later this month.

The local election is at 6 p.m., Thursday, in the convention center at the Cibola County complex, 515 W. High St., said Cibola County Democratic Party Chair Bruce Boynton.

The county is split into three wards, eastern, central and western, and each ward will have an officer elected, Boynton said.

Ward officers are responsible for getting voters registered and getting people to the polls on election day, he said.

Also, the chair and vice chair of the Democratic Party for Cibola County will be elected as well as two additional positions, those who will be designated delegates to the state party meeting on April 28.

At the April 28 meeting in Las Cruces, Matt Farrauto, New Mexico Democratic Party executive director, said the delegates will discuss and formalize a Feb. 5 statewide caucus, also called the "Presidential Preference Primary Election."

"This election will be run, and paid for, by the party and will have special polling locations where people will vote," he said.

It is too early to determine where those polls will be in Cibola County on Feb. 5. That information will be published in the Independent when announced by the party.

Farrauto said the February primary will determine who Democrats want to be as the nominee of their party in the presidential race for 2008.

Mail ballots will also be available for the Feb. 5 caucus, he said.

There will be a total of 42 delegates to the state meeting. Of those, 11 will be designated as delegates to the Democratic National Convention in Denver on Aug. 25, 2008.

New Mexico's official state presidential primary election is June 3, 2008.

A delegate selection plan has been placed on the Internet on the party's Web site, Farrauto said.

It may be downloaded at: www.nmdemocrats.org.

Those without Internet access may request a copy of the plan from the Democratic Party of New Mexico's headquarters at 1301 San Pedro NE, Albuquerque, NM, 87110.

Fore more information on the local election, call Boynton at (505) 285-4242, or for information about the state meeting or the delegates plan, call the party headquarters at (505) 830-3650.

To contact reporter Jim Tiffin, call (505) 287-2197 or e-mail: jtiffin.independent@yahoo.com.