Alcona County Republicans
Meeting Minutes
September 23, 2024
Opening:
The meeting was called to order by Carrie Mullins at the Alcona EMS building on M72 at 7:06pm.
Executive Committee Present:
Carrie Mullins
Jeff Dobbs
Jess Dobbs
Andy Jamieson
Greg Anderson
Kris Anderson
William Sickner
Absent:
Judy French
Danica Jamieson
Invocation & Pledge of Allegiance:
Pledge of Allegiance done, and Invocation given by Jeff Dobbs.
Business:
Chairman’s Welcome
Carrie talked a little about Biden and how social media has helped to show the truth behind Biden’s incapacity to run our country, among other truths. Dealing with the fallout of dementia on a personal level with her mother, she can see it afflicting Biden. Carrie also talked about the recent conference calls that she has attended with the RNC. They are focusing hard on absentee ballots and voter registration.
Michigan.gov/vote
Kennedy is still on the ballot, and Carrie feels this will hurt Trump in Michigan. She recommends that while talking with people, bring them to Michigan.gov/vote to see if they’re already registered to vote, if they have already voted, and if not, to help them to register to vote. Let them know too, that they can same day register to vote and vote on November 5th.
There are some shenanigans going on in Wayne county already, as there have been reports of 250 Democrat poll workers, and only 50 or so Republican poll workers. This is illegal if true, and shows exactly what the Democrats are planning to do to cheat in this election.
Voter Guide Distribution
Carrie printed out a bunch of voter guides, and Jess handed them out in stacks to everyone in attendance. We ask that everyone posts these in their local stores and places of business, and in their neighborhoods to get out the vote!
10xVotes.com
A free app, and Carrie is impressed with it. We don’t have a huge contingency of low propensity voters. What this app does, is show you people who haven’t voted in the last 5-10 years or so, and allows you to “claim” them, so you can talk about voting to these people who you know.
Turning Point Action App
Free app for door knocking. Campaign Sidekick is another, and is more in depth and complex than the Turning Point Action app. Might be good to use both at once. You can make contact via phone instead of door knocking.
GOTV – Gun Owners & Christians
We need more Christians and Gun Owners to register to vote and grab their absentee ballots to bank their votes. Everything can be done online. September 26th the ballots are going to be available to people for voting.
350,000 Gun Owners in the state of Michigan that have guns, and are NOT registered to vote. Kamala has promised to enact mandatory gun buybacks, if congress doesn’t act within 100 days.
3.4 million Evangelical Christians that are not registered to vote estimated in Michigan. We need to get as many registered to vote, and to actually vote, this election.
Treasurer’s Report
See attached.
Discussion on the Minutes
They can be found on the website, alconagop.com .
New Business: Labor Day Parade
They handed a lot of signs out at the Labor Day parade. Big shout out to Jeff, Jim, Nelson & Judy French, Bob & Lisa, and Carrie too. Our float came before the Democratic group, and so they had to see all our Trump signs everywhere. Good job everyone!
New Business: Reimbursement for Ads
Jeff didn’t realize that the Card number he used was for the wrong account (corporate), and so it failed. Mary Weber called Carrie, and Carrie used her Debit Card to pay for the ad, because the card won’t work for it. So, she’ll need to be reimbursed.
Jess moves to reimburse Carrie the $81 for the ad, Kris seconds. Discussion: William wants these ads out soon.
Roll Call Vote:
Carrie Mullins: Yes
Jeff Dobbs: Yes
Jess Dobbs: Yes
Greg Anderson: Yes
Kris Anderson: Yes
Andy Jamieson: Yes
William Sickner: Yes
Motion passes.
Jim to donate $210 from signs. Recommends handing out voter guides with each sign that is passed out.
New Business: 1st Congressional District Facebook & Text Advertising
1st Congressional District set it up to do ads and text messages for our counties. Jess would like to take advantage of this for both Facebook & Text Messages.
Andy makes motion to fund Facebook Ads via the 1CD, $100, Greg seconds, with discretion for targeting by Jess. (Targeting: Republican leaning, 18-65+, in Alcona County.)
Discussion: Mention in the text of the FB ad that 1) Save the image and 2) can Same day register & vote. Add Michigan.gov/vote to the text as well above the text. Remember non-partisan section if voting straight ticket. Add voting date.
Roll Call Vote:
Carrie Mullins: Yes
Jeff Dobbs: Yes
Jess Dobbs: Yes
Greg Anderson: Yes
Kris Anderson: Yes
Andy Jamieson: Yes
William Sickner: Yes
Motion passes.
Motion by Jess to fund Text Messaging ads via the 1CD, $200, Greg Seconds, with discretion for targeting by Jess. (Targeting: Republican leaning, 18-65+, in Alcona County. Reminder that there is a 1024 character limit for text message ads.)
Discussion: None.
Roll Call Vote:
Carrie Mullins: Yes
Jeff Dobbs: Yes
Jess Dobbs: Yes
Greg Anderson: Yes
Kris Anderson: Yes
Andy Jamieson: Yes
William Sickner: Yes
Motion passes.
Motion to reimburse Carrie for the $300 for the Facebook Ads & the Text Messaging Ads by Kris and seconded by Andy.
Discussion: None.
Roll Call Vote:
Carrie Mullins: Yes
Jeff Dobbs: Yes
Jess Dobbs: Yes
Greg Anderson: Yes
Kris Anderson: Yes
Andy Jamieson: Yes
William Sickner: Yes
Motion passes.
Good of the Order:
Robert Turek
Robert is hearing that there is a Public Meeting on October 7th of Gustin Township. Open to the public, not just township residents. Heard about requirements for local fire departments, and that they’re not good.
Carrie mentioned about large commercial solar farms that impact the entire community. MTA had trainings in regards to that. PA233 was passed in MI. It was passed along party lines. It was slated to take over large farm facilities. Townships can indeed come up with either a compatible renewable energy resource. It puts everything in the hands of the township. Mikado opted to not do a CREO (compatible renewable energy resource). The definition section isn’t even finalized by PA233. 10 page document, vague. Nov 29th deadline to get passed/enacted.
Lisa Turek
Earnie from Baptist Family preached on voting. She wants to thank Ron Edwards for his ads.
Craig Johnston
Zoning for Gustin Township about solar has already been submitted. The state is offering about $1 million to townships that sign onto this thing. A lot of these solar farms will be reclassified to industrial zones. Gustin has worked on this for 2 years.
Jeff Dobbs
He wants to thank Jim White for passing out hundreds of signs.
Ron Edwards
Thurs/Fri brochure in the mail. It was anti-Harris. He wondered if anyone else got it.
Adjournment:
Motion to adjourn, called by Jeff, seconded by Kris at 8:40pm. Next open meeting to be held on October 28, 2024 at 7pm at the Alcona County EMS building on M72. (2600 E. M-72, Harrisville, MI 48740.)
Minutes submitted by: Jessica Dobbs
