2025 Louisville
Democratic Precinct Leadership Elections

Election and Convention FAQ & Precinct Leaders Responsibilities

Thank you for your great questions! 

This FAQ was inspired by the great questions that many people asked at our online Q&A as well as emailed to us. If you have a question that you think needs to be answered on here, email communications@louisvilledems.com to add it!

Process of Precinct Elections

If you applied  to run for a precinct seat or vote in the precinct election, you should have received notices on June 6th about voting, and if you are running for a seat if you have a contested election. You will receive your ballot on May 8th in the morning. 

Organization Chart

 

Click the image below for an interactive chart for zooming in

Watch our Q&A from May 6th

Click for precinct map

Precinct Leaders Responsibilities

Precincts are the building blocks for everything that the party does, and precinct leaders help manage these blocks. Think of them as neighborhood advocates. There are over 600 precincts in Louisville, and every one has 3 leadership positions for Democrats: and Precinct Man, Precinct Woman, and Precinct Youth (Age 40 and under). This is the team that will make sure that the constituents in their neighborhoods are up-to-date on everything that Democrats are doing in the community. There are many ways to organize in a community, but below are some common activities that precinct leaders do. We also encourage your creativity- many precinct leaders have come up with their own unique ways to organize their neighbors!

  • Canvassing your neighborhood to introduce yourself and discuss key issues

  • Encouraging voter registration and participation

  • Providing voters with information on candidates for elections

  • Establishing connections with local organizations

  • Organizing in partnership with your LD Chair and Vice Chair

  • Serving as a liaison between the community and the local Democratic Party

Opportunities for Precinct Leaders

  • Attend election and campaign trainings

  • Serve on the nominating committee for state special election candidates in the event of an open seat

  • Identifying candidates to run for office

FAQ: Precinct Elections- for candidates who signed up to run for a seat

  • I was informed that I was the only person to run in both a youth and either man or woman in my precinct so I “won” both. What should I do? 

    • Choose whichever one you would like to be listed as! You can only hold one seat. We will be confirming that with you in a few days. 

  • It looks like there are only 2 people in my precinct running for a seat, me and another person. And we are the only voters. How does this work? It will be a tie if we both vote for ourselves. 

    • We do a coin toss, per the KDP bylaws. However– if there are less than 3 positions won in a precinct, we will be applying for a  flexibility waiver to have both people seated to leadership. 

  • I was emailed a list of people and their email addresses? Am I running against all of them?

    •  No. These are all voters in your precinct. They may be running against you, or in another race for another position, or simply registered to vote in the election. Look to the email you received as a voter in your precinct for the roles that have elections and who is running in each one. 

    • As a candidate, you can reach out to people in your precinct who are voters in your race, and introduce yourself and why you are wanting to be in precinct leadership. Best practice is to email each person individually or put all of the email addresses in the BCC line for privacy reasons. 

  • I do not want to run for my position since I now know there is someone else running. Can I remove myself from the ballot? 

    • Not exactly. Since the ballot is published to the voters already, we cannot pull you off the ballot. We can mark you as withdrawn on it. Any votes you receive will not be counted.  We still encourage you to vote in the election regardless of if you are up for a position. 

  • I won my race already since there was no one else in it- how do I get started?! Can I announce it publicly?  Should I create new social media accounts and email addresses for my precinct?

    • We love how fired up and ready to go you are! Once our county convention is over and we elect all of the new county party officers and  legislative district chairs on May 28th, your new LD chairs will be reaching out to you for your first meeting and next steps. 

    • In general, organizing should be yourself as a person, so no new accounts needed! Questions about communications strategy can be brought up with your LD chair or the communications chair

    • Yes, you can announce that you won, and you are looking forward to organizing in your precinct! 

  • Do I have to go to the conventions to be a precinct leader? 

    • No– we would like as many to come as they can, but we know that schedules are crazy and do not expect everyone to attend. 

FAQ Precinct Elections- voters

  • Why are there so few voters in my precinct? Can we get more now? 

    • No, the registration period is closed. We had open registration for the election for the month of April. Part of the organizing work will be to have more people involved where we will have many precinct voters in our future reorganization elections. 

  • How are ties handled? 

    • We do a coin toss, per the KDP bylaws. However– if there are less than 3 positions won in a precinct, we will be applying for a  flexibility waiver to have both people seated to leadership. 

FAQ Jefferson County Convention- May 17th

Jefferson Community and Technical College
Hartford Hall
May 17th
649 S 1st Street
9 A.M. Doors open for coffee and donuts
10 A.M. Convention begins. 

  • What will we be doing at the county convention? Who should/can go? 

    • Who can/should go: 

      • People who have just been elected as precinct leaders, or any Democrats who would like to join are welcome, including people who did not win precinct seats. (come join us for donuts and coffee and opening statements- it will be good to meet people)

      • People who would like to run for delegate to the state convention in Owensboro on June 14th. 

        • Requirements to run– you do not have to be a precinct leader to run for delegate to the state convention but you do need to be a Democrat, and live in Jefferson County. Please RSVP here so we can have you credentialed in advance. 

    • If you are wanting to run for Chair or Vice Chair of a legislative district, you should attend and be prepared with a small statement to speak at your LD meeting about why you want to hold this seat.  Want to know more about the responsibilities of an LD Chair or Vice Chair? Click here for more details

      • Requirements to run– you do not have to be a precinct leader to run for LD or Vice chair, but you do need to be a Democrat, and live in Jefferson County. Please RSVP here so we can have you credentialed in advance. 

    • What are we doing? 

      • We will be meeting with Democrats for coffee and donuts at 9am

      • At 10am, we will convene as a group in the auditorium and there will be speakers- some fun ones to be announced! 

      • We will break out into our 18 legislative districts, being led by the current LD chair or an appointed chair. The newly elected precinct leaders will elect: 

        • The new LD chair, and vice chair. 

        • Delegates to attend the state convention. 

    • Must I attend the convention to be a precinct leader?

      • No, we would love for you to be there, but we know how busy life is in May! You do not need to attend.

NOTES:

  • You do not need to be a Precinct leader to run for LD Chair,  Vice Chair, or Delegate to the State Convention but you do need to be a Precinct leader to vote in these races. 

  • You must attend in person to vote. There is no proxy voting or online voting at the County Convention. You do not need to be in attendance to run for LD Chair, Vice Chair or delegate, although we highly encourage you to do so.

  • To run for Legislative District Chair, Vice Chair, or Delegate to the state convention you must: 

    • Be registered to vote in Jefferson County. 

    • Be a registered Democrat. 

FAQ State convention June 14th

  • Where is the Convention? 

    • It is at the Owensboro Convention Center- which is on central time. 

    • 9:30am 4pm central time

    • It is about 2 hours from Louisville. 

  • What happens at the state convention? Who should/can go? 

    • Who can go: 

      • Delegates to the state convention that are elected at the county convention. 

      • People wanting to be elected to the State Central Executive Committee

    • What happens at the convention? 

      • We elect congressional district members of SCEC

      • We elect at-large (all state) members to the SCEC

      • We will hear from various leaders, including labor leaders.

  • Are there any other events happening? 

    • Yes! There is the Forward Together dinner the night before, Friday June 13th. Ken Martin, the chair of the DNC will be the featured speaker. You can buy tickets here

  • More specific information is coming out of the KDP in the next few days with more details about the convention, speakers, etc. We will update this FAQ when we receive it!