Every county has members that are elected on the primary ballot. Some counties are divided by assembly district, some are divided by supervisorial district. The number of people elected also varies as it depends on the number of registered Democrats in the county.

For Sacramento we have six members elected by plurality for each of the 5 assembly districts that are in the county. Assembly districts 5 and 9 are always highly contested. Assembly Districts 4 and 15 sometimes do not even appear on the ballot because 6 or less will file. Assembly District 10 tends to fall somewhere in the middle. It appears on the ballot but does not have the throngs of people running as 5 and 9 do. If some one wants to run they must pull papers from the county elections office, gather nominating signatures of at least 20 registered Democrats from their assembly District and file by the March 12th deadline. They will appear on the June primary ballot and the top six vote getters will take office the following January on the second Monday.

The ex-officios get to appoint some one to the committee. If they were the Democratic Constitutional Candidate they appoint to the county they are registered to vote in. For example, Phil Angelides is registered to vote in Sacramento County and was the last Democratic Gubernatorial candidate and he appointed Anna Molander to the committee. The Congressional, Senate, and Assembly candidates appoint some one to the counties which are part of their district. A couple of different things seem to happen with the appointments depending on the ex-officio. Some want to appoint one of their staffers (for example Huber, Steinberg, Matsui). Some will appoint a person that they know that has expressed interest, for example a volunteer from their campaign (Durston). Some will appoint a person that the committee recommends to them or simple if some one asks them to (Leahy). The only basic requirement is that the appointed person be a registered Dem in the county and preferably from the district they represent.

The other way to get a vote on Sacramento's Central Committee is to be a chartered clubs representative. This is something that is in our bylaws, but that not all counties do. Each club gets to have one vote on the committee and appoints a representative and an alternate.

There is always opportunities for interested people to become more involved with out going through the process of getting elected or if they do not make the top six.

Becoming an alternate for an elected member is a good way to start learning the ropes. Alternate members get votes on the committee if the elected member they are an alternate for can not attend. They can also take on committee vice-chair positions, chair an ad-hoc committee, and vote on all the sub-committees.

Associate members get to vote on the sub committees and chair ad-hoc committees.