The major United States political parties are highly organized. The County Central Committees in each state are the official spokesman for the Parties especially as regards issues that relate to the county.

A major duty of a Central Committee is to identify, recruit and train candidates to run for Office. Committee members may be elected at primaries, chosen at state conventions or appointed by party officers.

The precint is the smallest local division. It is customary for Central Committees to have a precint organization in order to get out the vote. This is where volunteers are really needed. Campaigns are usually run by campaign committees or consulting firms. These groups need volunteers to get out the vote.

There are 58 counties in California and there should be 58 County Central Committees. The number of members on a County Central Committe is established by the State Election Code. Recently, Counties have been able to change the number of members of the committee. They do this by working with their Registrar of Voters. The Sonoma County Republican Central Committee currently has 23 elected members.

Counties may be divided into supervisorial districts and members of the Central Committe are then elected based on what district they live in. Candidates running for office wo win the primary for their party become ex-officio members of the Central Committe. There are 6 ex officio members of the Central Committe.

Republican Central Committees have four main goals.

1. Identify Republican Candidates for all partisan and local non-partisan offices.

2. Locate and register Republicans.

3. Inform Republicans on issues, candidates and voting rights.

4. Make certain all Republicans get to the polls and vote on Election Day.

The Republican Party of Sonoma County is responsible for the Republican campaign in our country. The California Republican Party is responsible for working with county Republican committees and candidates to see that the party is successful.

The Party seeks to affect the course of governance in the county by nominating, endorsing, and electing candidates who reflect a general Republican philosphy of lower taxes, smaller government, personal responsibility and a strong national defense.

For information about your polling place and your choice of candidates you can go to Smart Voter.