1975 Georgia Democratic State Charter Convention

The **1975 Georgia Democratic State Charter Convention** was held on September 19-20, 1975 at the Macon Civic Center in order to draw up a new charter for the DPG. It codified policies, outlined new goals, democratized the selection of party officers, and drafted new rules for delegate selection.

## Background

It was convened by Governor George Busbee, who at the 1974 Convention issued a call for a party charter commission to draw up recommendations for reforming the party. The week before the charter convention, the commission issued a 12-page report which took into account the recommendations of the Democratic National Committee after the loss of the 1972 McGovern campaign. The bulk of the commission's report was factored into the final new charter draft.

## Delegate election

Elections for 10 delegates and 5 alternates to the convention were held in all 56 State Senate districts on August 23, 1975, amounting to a projected 560 delegates and alternates total. All registered voters in each district were allowed to vote for delegates and alternates, provided the voters signed an affidavit certifying their self-identification as Democrats and their intent to vote for Democratic candidates in the future. In addition, full voting rights will go to the 100 members of the State Charter Commission, 15 delegates from the Young Democrats of Georgia, the six national committee members and 38 Democratic public office holders. Due to the concentration of population, 18 of the 56 caucuses were held in the metro Atlanta area.

Among the meeting places for the delegate elections in Metro Atlanta:

* Senate Dist. 5 - Henderson Mill Elementary School
* District 32 at the Cobb County Courthouse;
* 33 in the new Cobb Administration Building
* 34 in Sumner Park Dining Room in East Point;
* 35 in the Community Room of Stewart-Lakewood Mall;
* 36 at Whitehead Boy's Club on Lakewood Ave.;
* 37 at Grady High School;
* 38 at Harper High School Senate District
* 39 at caucus at the ML Moriah Baptist Church on Ashby Street
* District 40 at Northside High School;
* 41 at Peach-tree Bank on Chamblee-Dunwoody Road;
* 42 at DeKalb County Courthouse;
* 43 at the South Campus of DeKalb Community College;
* 44 at the City Courtroom in Forest Park;
* 45 at the Walton County Courthouse in Monroe;
* 48 at the Lawrenceville District Courthouse in Lawrenceville;
* 55 at Avondale High School; and 56 at the City Hall in Kennesaw.

## Results

Among the changes made were that the chairman and all offices down to the county level would be elected. County and congressional district committee members would be elected by self-declared Democratic registered voters, who would elect the officers of the respective committees, as well as the state committee members for each county. In turn, the state committeemembers would elect the state officers of the party and the state delegates to the Democratic National Convention.

Another change was the title of Chairman would be changed to Chairperson, and that all language in party documents would be made gender-neutral.

Finally, a new 310-member state committee was created, and would elect its first members in all counties before November 1975. This effectively replaced what used to be known as the Georgia Democratic State Executive Committee with the modern Democratic Party of Georgia.

Marge Thurman would be the last governor-appointed chair of the party, and was elected to another term in 1978 by the State Committee. After her death in 1982, Jimmy Carter's former federal OMB director, Bert Lance, became the first new chair to be elected. It was also the beginning of the divestment of power away from Democratic governors, which would continue after the loss of the governorship in 2002.