A Precinct Committeemen, or PC, (also known as a Precinct Committee Officer (PCO) or Precinct Officer (PO), Precinct Delegates, Precinct Executive, ET AL) is the name for a office and the name of the official that organizes a voting precinct for a political party. There are state, ward and township party organizations, but the basic unit of U.S. government is the county. In nearly every case, the party endorsements the primary voter sees are made by a county executive committee. This executive committee is usually elected by the county's precinct committeemen. These committeemen are elected in the party primary from every precinct (The number of voters varies greatly from region to region) in the county.
Each state has slightly different rules for getting on the primary ballot for committeeman. For example, in Illinois (outside Cook County) you must file the signatures of any 10 registered voters in your precinct 90 days before the primary. In Ohio, you must file 5 signatures 75 days before the primary from voters who either voted in you party's primary or didn't vote in any primary in the last two years. Arizona allows for a precinct committeeman to be appointed outside the election cycle, a non-voting office, then file 10 signatures 76 days before the primary from voters registered to same party.[1] The rules (and the name of the office) may differ slightly from state to state.
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The first concept for Precinct Committeemen appears in a Circular From the Whig Committee of Illinois in 1840 and and may have been an attempt to shore up the failed economic plan known as the American System. It states in part:
To divide their county into small districts, and to appoint in each a subcommittee, whose duty it shall be to make a perfect list of all the voters in their respective districts, and to ascertain with certainty for whom they will vote. If they meet with men who are doubtful as to the man they will support, such voters should be designated in separate lines, with the name of the man they will probably support.[2]
A precinct committeeman has many varied responsibilities. Elected committeeman (by ballot) are eligible to vote for official party officers at county and/or state functions where official balloting for officers takes place. Precinct captain, county committeeman, state committeemen, members of executive committee (chairman, executive director, treasure, etc.), members at large and district heads are some of the officers a committeeman may be asked to vote on.[3][4]
An elected committeeman may also be asked to vote on changes to county and/or state to by-laws and to vote on which candidates the party backs in an election.
During an election cycle the precinct committeeman may campaign for candidates by walking door-to-door or on the telephone, put up and take down campaign signs. A precinct committeeman may be asked work in polling places and/or to check ballots.
States and counties vary widely on what is expected of both appointed and elected committeemen.