The Basics

The 2016 Democratic National Convention will be held July 25-28 in Philadelphia, PA, at the Wells Fargo Center and the Pennsylvania Convention Center.

The convention is designated as a National Special Security Event, which means that ultimate law enforcement authority is in the hands of the U.S. Secret Service and the Department of Homeland Security.

Cost of travel and of Being There depends on the distance you must go. From California, my estimate is it will cost about $4,000, paying full fare round trip air travel, food, accommodations, and et cetera.

You can find the 2016 Delegate Selection Rules here.

Each state has its own procedures for delegate selection. Because I live in California, I'll present California's procedures as an example of how to proceed.

The How-To

Here is how to become a California District Level Delegate, in 5 steps.

1. Register as a Democrat.

If you want to participate as a delegate, you have to be a registered Democrat. If you're not registered as a Democrat, do it now.

2. Find the number of the Congressional District in which you are registered.

Here is the map of Congressional Districts.

3. File Form A during the filing period. The filing period runs from February 29 (it is a leap year), 2016 through April 13, 2016. Beginning on February 29, 2016, the California Democratic Party (CDP) will make Form A available on its web site.

You can fill out Form A online, or print it and fax it in. However, the CDP requires your original signature on file, so the best way to have an unchallenged Form A submitted is to print, sign in blue ink, and mail the original to the CDP Sacramento office. If you complete Form A

online, a PDF copy of your completed form will be emailed to you to sign and submit.

Note: When filing Form A, you must pledge your support for one presidential candidate. If your candidate becomes a dual-carburetor fried potato with a fuel injection engine and drops out of the race prior to the Form A filing deadline of April 13, 2016, at 5 pm, you can re-file Form A and pledge your support to one of the remaining candidates. Thus, if Bernie Sanders were to drop out of the race prior to April 13, 2016, 5 pm, you could choose to drop out of your race for District Delegate, or you could refile, and pledge your support to one of the remaining candidates.

4. Organize your supporters.

This is where you work it. You need to contact your friends, neighbors, colleagues, fellow Kosacks, family members, fellow candidate supporters, every person you know who lives in your Congressional district and will show up at the Caucus and vote for you. You need to raise your posse. Your posse needs to pledge to show up at the Caucus.

How many minions will you need to bring with you in order to win? That depends on how many people are likely to show up at your District's caucus. If you live in a very urban, densely packed District, with high voter turnout, high voter education, and lots of active Democrats, you will need more supporters than if you live in a District that covers lots of geography, where people are spread like cold butter across the land, and must drive a long way to get to the Caucus, and don't care that much to start with, you may need fewer friends – but there are always other people with the same idea.

5. Go To The Caucus With Your Posse.

You and your posse need to show up at the Sunday, May 1, 2016 caucus in your Congressional District. Posse members can even register as Democrats on site, at the event. The thing to do is arrive early, sign up, sign in, cast the vote. Then your gang is free to go, to return to their lives. They don't have to stay for the speech making.

In California, caucus locations and times will be posted here as soon as they are available.

Candidates will be tentatively chosen by caucus vote totals, though the final results will not be made public until the results of the June 7, 2016 primary are certified. Then, per the CDP web site,



Once the primary results are in, the presidential campaign committee and the CDP will notify and confirm all the winners in each district based on how many delegates each presidential candidate is allocated by vote totals. These elected Delegates will join the California Delegation at the mandatory June 26 Statewide Delegation Meeting and the Democratic National Convention (July 25-29) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Every state has its own delegate selection rules and State Parties had to have adopted and submitted their plans to the DNC's Rules and Bylaws Committee (RBC) by May 4, 2015. You can find your state's rules here.

Meanwhile, in California there will be a 2016 Delegate Selection Plan Online Webinar on Monday, August 3, 2015 at 6pm. Go here to sign up and RSVP via email to Alyssa Barajas at alyssa@cadem.org. You will receive instructions via email on how to login to the August 3rd webinar.

That's what it takes. Go.

