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Happy Thursday! Please note that our regular office hours are Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. and 1 p.m. – 3 p.m.


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** DEC MONTHLY MEETING - TONIGHT
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Please join us for the Democratic Executive Committee Monthly Meeting on Thursday, February 20^th at 6:00 p.m. at the Community Center, 2266 14^th Ave., Vero Beach. This is our regular monthly business meeting and all Democrats are welcome to attend.


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** VOLUNTEER OF THE MONTH
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Our Volunteer of the Month for January 2020 is Diego Pelaez! Diego is our Wednesday morning office volunteer, but that isn’t all. He is often in and out of office to prepare for Club meetings, work at the booth, or fixing things for us. He quietly works hard behind the scenes to make sure our events are successful and everything runs smoothly. He also is a native Spanish speaker and helps us with our Latino Democrats. Thank you Diego, the Democrats of Indian River are lucky to have you!



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** WHAT’S HAPPENING AT THE OFFICE?
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The office is getting busier and busier! As we head into the Election of our Lifetime, we will have more and more need for volunteers. Here are some areas we need help with now:

The office is in need of 2 volunteers for Friday’s. One for the morning shift from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. and one for the afternoon shift from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. This is a regular weekly shift so will require a commitment. If you would like to volunteer for either of these shifts, please email Stacey at

From time to time our regular office volunteers go out of town or get ill and cannot cover their shift. If you would like to be a substitute office volunteer to cover an occasional shift here and there, please email Stacey at

The Data Team continues to work hard to print pre-filled Vote By Mail forms for every precinct in the county. We are now starting to organize volunteers to go knock on the doors of fellow Democrats and ask them the sign up for Vote By Mail. If you would like to help us with this important initiative, please email Stacey at .

The Voter Protection team is hard at work preparing for Poll Watching for early voting in the Presidential Primary. More details are in the newsletter below.

The Precinct Taskforce is busy planning the Saturday, February 22^nd Precinct Captain Training.


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** GALA UPDATE
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The 2020 Blue Gala is sold out! A waiting list has been added to our website in case there are cancellations. We truly apologize to those who were closed out, the response has been overwhelming!

To those who will be attending - ticket holders, sponsors and guests - our sincere thank you for your support and encouragement. We look forward to meeting you all at our 2020 GALA!

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**
DATA TEAM HELP NEEDED
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Our Data Team is looking for volunteers to help out 2-4 hours a week. If you are interested, please contact Jim St. Martin at

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**
DEMOCRATIC CLUB NEWS
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Primary election results on Super Tuesday, March 3 are going to be exciting!

Join your fellow Democratic Club members and bring your friends to the Irish American Society for a Primary Watch Party from 7:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. We’ll see live primary election results from 13 states including California, Texas, Virginia, North Carolina, Arkansas, Alabama, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah and Vermont. One third of the delegates for the Democratic Convention will be awarded on this day, more than any other single day on the primary election schedule.

This event is free but donations will be appreciated. A cash bar is available. Snacks will be provided. Bring your political stories and jokes and let’s have fun while we wait for results to come in!

Everything you wanted to know about Precinct Captains at next Club meeting

The next meeting of the Democratic Club on March 10^th will feature guest speaker Rita Milelli speaking on "Precinctology - The Art and Science of Engaging all Democrats in the Democratic Process". Rita, who leads our precinct captain action committee, will explain how vital our precinct captain system is for getting out the vote. Following Rita’s presentation we will have a mock caucus exercise for the Florida presidential primary candidates. It will be fun to see how close our results are to the results on March17th.

Join us for our monthly meeting at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, March 10 at the Irish American Society, 1314 20th St., Vero Beach.

We now have over 150 members!



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** FDP STATEMENT ON 11TH CIRCUIT RULING - INJUNCTION AGAINST THE DESANTIS POLL TAX
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**
On February 19, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit ruled to affirm the preliminary injunction against the state of Florida for attempting to punish those that cannot afford to pay their legal financial obligations(LFO) by withholding their right to vote. Florida voters approved Amendment 4 in 2018 to restore voting rights to over 1.4 million people.

Terrie Rizzo, chair of the Florida Democratic Party, released the following statement:

"Today's ruling is a major win for democracy. The courts have told Ron DeSantis and the GOP loudly and clearly that requiring payment to vote is unconstitutional. It is time for the Florida Legislature to repeal the DeSantis Poll Tax, now!”

From the 11th Circuit Opinion ([link removed]) :

“Because the LFO requirement punishes those who cannot pay more harshly than those who can—and does so by continuing to deny them access to the ballot box—Supreme Court precedent leads us to apply heightened scrutiny in asking whether the requirement violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment as applied to these plaintiffs. When measured against this standard, we hold that it does and affirm the preliminary injunction entered by the district court.”



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** PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY
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If you are signed up for Vote By Mail, you have more than likely received your ballot for the Presidential Primary. You may notice that many of the candidates listed on the ballot are no longer running for office. Below is a sample ballot with the names of those who have suspended their campaign crossed out to help you get a better idea of who you can vote for.





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** SOCIAL MEDIA DIRECTOR NEEDED
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**
We are in need of a knowledgeable and dedicated volunteer to oversee our social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.). As we head into election season, we will need a strong social media presence in Indian River County. If you have the time, the knowledge and passion for this position, please contact Stacey at [email protected]



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** WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE 100 YEAR ANNIVERSARY
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** Please plan on attending one of the 3 FREE theatrical performances of the battle for women’s right to vote!



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** DELEGATES FOR THE DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION
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If you are interested in being a delegate for the Democratic National Convention, the deadline to apply is March 7, 2020. To apply go to [link removed]
The Delegate Caucus will then take place on April 4, 2020 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Rodes Park Community Center, 3410 Flanagan Ave., West Melbourne, FL 32904


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** POLL WATCHERS NEEDED
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If you are interested in serving as a poll watcher for the upcoming Presidential Preference Primary (PPP), we will be staffing shifts for the Early Voting from March 7th thru the 14th and/or Election Day on March 17th. To serve, we will need to confirm your full name, date of birth, current residential address in IRC, that you are currently registered to vote in IRC, and are registered as Democrats. This is information that we must submit to the Supervisor of Elections (SOE) prior to February 22, 2020. If you provide this information to us soon, we will submit this data on Florida Form DS-DE 125 to the SOE on your behalf for approval by noon on the 22nd. We will also need your email address and cell phone number for our groups coordination and contact. The SOE will create ID Badges for each poll watcher which will have to be picked up at the SOE prior to serving as a poll watcher.

We will also be conducting a training for poll watchers on March 1, 2020 at 1 pm at the DEC headquarters at 2345 14th Ave. in Vero Beach.

Unfortunately that is the only date we will be training, locally. If you absolutely cannot attend that training, there are other options we can share with you.

If you wish to assist in poll watching here in Indian River County please provide the above information to Arlen Tompkins at 610-420-7698 or email to .


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** CLEAN WATER COALITION
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** The Clean Water Coalition Quarterly Meeting is Thursday, February 20th at 7 p.m. The Clean Water Coalition will meet at the Community Church, located at 1901 23rd Street, Vero Beach on Thursday, February 20th at 7 p.m. Dr. Randall Parkinson will present "The Effects of Climate Change on Indian River Lagoon Water Quality." Dr. Parkinson of Florida International University Sea Level Solutions Center has authored many papers on coastal ecology and sea level rise. The meeting is free and open to the public.
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**
GIFFORD HISTORICAL MUSEUM AND CULTURAL CENTER
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The Gifford Historical Museum and Cultural Center is celebrating their second anniversary with “A Taste of Black History”. Please see the flyer below for more information.




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** CALENDAR
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** Below find upcoming government, Democrat and community events to add to your calendar. Visit [link removed] for a full list of calendar events for 2020.

February 20

6:00 p.m. – DEC Monthly Meeting, Community Center, 2266 14^th Ave., Vero Beach

7:00 p.m. – Fellsmere City Council, 22 S. Orange Street, Fellsmere, FL 32948

February 23

6 p.m. – 10 p.m. – Blue Gala 2020, The Moorings

February 25

9:00 a.m. – Indian River County Commission, County Administration Offices – Council Chambers, 1801 27th Street, Building A, Vero Beach 32960-3388

9:30 a.m. – Vero Beach City Council, City Council Chambers, City Hall, 1053 20^th Place, Vero Beach, 32960

1:00 p.m. - Superintendent Workshop, School District of Indian River County, 6500 57^th Street
Vero Beach, FL 32967

5:00 p.m. – DEC Steering Committee Meeting, Democratic Headquarters, 2345 14^th Ave., Suite 7, Vero Beach, FL 32960

6:00 p.m. – School Board Business Meeting, School District of Indian River County, 6500 57^th Street
Vero Beach, FL 32967


February 26

6:00 p.m. – Sebastian City Council, 1225 Main Street, Sebastian, FL 32958

February 28

10:00 a.m. – Democratic Women’s Environmental Committee, Democratic Headquarters, 2345 14^th Ave., Suite 7, Vero Beach, FL 32960

6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. – Downtown Friday, Downtown Vero Beach, 14^th Avenue


Every Saturday, 10 a.m. – 12 p.m.
Koffee with Ken and Parris
Democrats of Indian River Office
2345 14^th Ave., Suite 7, Vero Beach 32960
Bring your own coffee and chat about politics!




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Democratic Executive Committee of Indian River County
2345 14th Ave.
Suite 7
Vero Beach, FL 32960
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