How to Start a Brownie Mary Democrats of California in Your County

1. Contact your local Democratic Central Committee. To locate your county’s Democratic Central Committee, go to: http://www.cadem.org/about?id=0005
2. Call or email the chairperson and tell them you want to form an interest group - in this case a marijuana interest group with the name Brownie Mary Democrats of California of _____(your)______ County. They will tell you what you need to do to form the club. Printed below is most likely what they will tell you to do, but each Central Committee may have some additional requirements.
3. Collect the signatures of 20 registered Democrats in your county on BMDC application forms.  It is best to obtain at least 30 signatures to compensate for people who sign up who for one reason or another are not properly registered. Sample application forms are available at www.browniemaryclub.org. 
4. The people filling out the application forms must be registered Democrats in your County. If they are not registered Democrats, you can register them as Democrats - just pick up some voter registration forms from the Registrar of Voters or wherever they can be picked up. It is OK to register a person and have them sign up for your county’s BMDC as the same time. If you do register a new Democrats, make sure you let the folks you are working with in your Democratic Central Committee know how many you have registered - it impresses them. When registering people, don’t refuse to register someone who does not want to register as a Democrat.
5. Mail the voter registration form into your county’s registrar of voters within 72 hours. It is a legal requirement that they be mailed within this time period, so get it in the mail right away. If you do not get the voter registration mailed in within this time, it could be rejected by the registrar of voters. If the person registered as a Democrat, make a copy of the registration form before you mail it in. Keep a copy of the registration form even if they did not join the BMDC.
6. After you collect the signatures, turn them into your County Central Committee contact person. They will verify that you have at least 20 valid signatures. If you did not collect 20 valid signatures, they will let you know so you can collect more.
7. You will need to turn in a set of bylaws. A generic Brownie Mary Democrats of California set of bylaws can be downloaded from our website at browniemaryclub.org. You will need to insert your county’s name in the appropriate spaces.
8. Your club will receive a charter shortly after the signatures are verified, bylaws are submitted and whatever review process your County Central Committee requires. They will help you with all the legal things and forms you have to file as an official part of a political organization
9. Once you are chartered, the Democratic Party will provide you a table, pop-up tent, banner and so on for you to go out into the community and spread the word about the Brownie Mary Democratic Club and sign them up as members and as Democrats if they are not registered as Democrats. You will receive a $3 bounty for every new Democrat you register – it’s a great way to raise funds whenever and wherever you table.

BROWNIE MARY DEMOCRATIC CLUB of RIVERSIDE COUNTY

PO Box 739, Palm Springs CA 92263

760-799-2055