Official Dates for 2004 Libertarian Party Committee Organizing

Written November 17, 2004

The August 3, 2004 primary, which will elect Libertarian Township Committee representatives, is the beginning of a series of organizational activities prescribed by state law.

State statue 115.603 indicates each established political party shall have:

• A State Committee
• A congressional district committee for each district
• A judicial district committee for each circuit judge district
• A senatorial district committee for each senate district
• A legislative district committee for each legislative district
• A county committee for each

Moreover, statute 115.615 says

The county committee shall meet in the county seat to organize on the third Tuesday of August after primary elections (August 24^th for 2004) and shall elect:

• A chair and vice chair - one a man and one a woman. Both shall, by virtue of their election, also become members of the party congressional, senatorial and judicial committees of the district of which their county is a part
• A secretary and treasurer - one a man and one a woman

The proscriptions for the other committees get more complicated. Townships and wards, of course, fit within the political boundaries of the 115 counties without overlapping. But part of a given township can be in one of the 163 state legislative districts, while the other part in a different legislative district. The same is true of the 34 state senatorial or 9 US congressional districts.

RSMO 115.619 subsections 1 through 5 spell out the composition and membership of these committees in cases that vary by a district’s boundaries, whether it exists entirely within a county or overlaps to more than one county.

Then, we get to the dates for organizational meetings. RSMO 115.621 specifies:

• Congressional districts will meet the last Tuesday in August (Aug 31, 2004)
• Legislative districts will meet the third Wednesday in August (Aug 18, 2004)
• Senatorial districts will meet the third Saturday in August (Aug 21, 2004).
• Judicial districts will meet the third Saturday in September (Sep 18, 2004)

The Senatorial District Committee members shall also meet and select two registered voters from each district, (one a man, one a woman) as State Committee members on the Saturday after the third Tuesday in November, (the 16th for 2004).

The State Committee then elects its Chair, Vice-Chair, Secretary and Treasurer no earlier than December 7^th, 2004. A man and woman should occupy the offices of Chair and Vice-Chair, and similarly for Secretary and Treasurer. The Libertarian Party elected its state officers on June 7, 2003. These terms will run through 2005, when elections will be held at the state convention.

Due to the current size of the Missouri Libertarian Party, some of the required committees, officers and gender of officers listed may not be able to be formed or completely filled in all counties and districts. In these cases the local organization's best judgement should be used to meet the spirit and intent of the state laws.

Of course, if these regulations seem convoluted and overly bureaucratic, you are correct. This is, after all, a government exercise. However, they proscribe regulations that affect politicians and political parties and let us be thankful these regulations apply to politicians and political parties in an attempt to provide order, and do not restrict the freedoms and liberties of citizens at large.