Activities of Precinct Committeemen in Partisan and Nonpartisan Communities

Abstract

HE RELATIONSHIP and possible consequences of nonpartisan or partisan election rules to political party activity and organization is the subject of this paper. Precinct committeemen in two different political systems were studied. In one system the precinct committeemen work within a set of rules that maintain partisan elections of local officials and a large volume of local patronage. In the second community the precinct committeemen work under a city-manager plan, nonpartisan election rules,' and no local patronage. A direct examination of the differences between the activities of precinct workers in different political systems may contribute to a fuller understanding of the effect of imposing nonpartisan electoral rules on urban political organizations. Two of the formal and intended consequences of nonpartisanship are the elimination of the task of electing local public officials and the removal of patronage and other rewards from the control of the local political parties. Previous discussion of the possible effects of these two changes on local party systems has focused more on the effects on voting behavior and pressure group activity than on the direct effects on the precinct workers and organization of the parties themselves.2 (Party officials in Nonpartisan County were shocked at the suggestion that they possibly supported nonpartisan officials.) Despite the caution with which social scientists have discussed their research findings they generally conclude that the effect of nonpartisanship on local political party organization is one of weakening the local party organization and decreasing the party activity of the precinct workers. Underlying this assumption is the notion