After watching the debacle of a protest for no reason in front of Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison's office, I thought that I would give you an update on the current status of precinct chair filings in the Harris County Republican Party. The last update I put up was on December 9th, reflecting all filings through December 8th. Today's report includes all filings as of December 21st at 5:15 pm.

Unfortunately, the totals haven't moved much. The total number of people filing is 346. The total of contested races is now at 13 versus 7 from the earlier report. The total number of precincts is 319, remaining at the roughly 1/3 figure.

Here are the contested races, from the Elections pages:

• Precinct 001
• Precinct 050
• Precinct 098
• Precinct 112
• Precinct 129
• Precinct 135
• Precinct 182
• Precinct 351
• Precinct 377
• Precinct 383
• Precinct 484
• Precinct 488
• Precinct 682

Clicking on those links will take you to the primary page listing the candidates, the current incumbents for both parties, a map of the precinct and how the precinct voted in the Nov, 2008 general election.

It isn't all negative, although it is disappointing. There are at least a dozen candidates that come from the Tea Party ranks, probably more but I do not recognize their names. I think that all of the training sessions put on by Felicia Cravens and the Houston Tea Party Society are now complete but they did have an impact, however small I might think it is. Their goal is to rebuild both parties long-term, mine is to immediately impact the HCRP. I think that both are happening, and even if it remains at only a dozen or so new faces, change can still occur.

There is still plenty of time to file and hopefully, many people will. The deadline to file is January 4th and you can print out an application by clicking here. There is NO FILING FEE and the low turnouts in primary elections and the large number of undervotes virtually guarantee that if you file, you will be competitive even if only your friends and family vote for you.

The duties of a precinct chair, as envisioned by the HCRP, are listed here. The Harris County Democratic Party's view of precinct chairs is here. It is important to note that you do not have to serve as the election judge even though the party prefers that you do. Recruit someone else and you can still go to work that day. Lots of senior citizens are willing to work the polls.

The only way to change the Harris County Republican Party is by changing it from the bottom up. Waving a sign, having a party and protesting with friends is fun but in the long run, isn't going to change much, if anything. I also wonder if protest fatigue is setting in after viewing photos from the three protests yesterday. Elections matter and precinct chairs have the opportunity to run elections.

File today!