ELLY GRIMM
• Leader & Times
Election fever is catching on throughout the U.S., and the Seward County Democratic Party is not immune from that.
The party gathered for its monthly meeting Thursday evening, and one of the big items on the agenda was the election of officers. Ultimately, Kay Burtzloff was voted to remain chair, Kathleen Alonso was voted to remain vice chair, and Debra Huddleston was voted to remain secretary. All three expressed excitement about the election’s results.
“I'm really excited to be remaining the party chair, I've had a good run so far, so I'm excited to keep going,” Burtzloff said. “One of the things we're really going to be focusing on is trying to energize local Democrats to run for office and also turn out and vote in the elections.”
“I'm excited to be the vice chair again. I'm looking forward to seeing how November's election stuff turns out and seeing what will be coming up in the next couple years,” Alonso added.
“I'm excited to remain the secretary, it's something I've already been doing for a while, and I enjoy it, so I'm excited to keep going,” Huddleston said.
Burtzloff and Alonso added they expect to keep busy in the coming months with the upcoming November elections.
“I'm really excited about the Democratic presidential ticket, I really like the candidates and I think they're showing and sharing a very positive vision for the future of the country, and we want to do what we can to support that ticket locally,” Burtzloff said.
“I absolutely agree, I think this is definitely going to be an interesting election cycle, and I think it's a great chance for us to talk to people who might not be frequent voters and encourage them to do research into everything and then ultimately make their way to the polls,” Alonso said.
A main goal of the party moving forward, the trio agreed, is building up membership numbers.
“I would like to see the group grow, I'd like to see us increase our membership as a whole and get the word about our existence and encourage people to visit our meetings,” Alonso said.
“I absolutely agree with that, and I think Kathleen's great representation for the newer generation,” Burtzloff added. “I remember when Debra and I first started, the group was mostly older individuals, and the vast majority of them have either died or moved out of the community, which is sad, so we definitely need to plan on reaching out to the younger people in the community and start expanding our numbers. One big factor will be using social media more – we've got a private page and a public page, so I think we need to find ways to utilize that more effectively. I think we can use that to draw in some of the younger generation, who are much more social media-savvy than we are.”
“When I first started, there was always a solid 40 to 50 people at the meetings, but like Kay said, the vast majority of them have either died or moved away, so I'd also like to see us expand,” Huddleston said. “And as far as the social media stuff, I have noticed we are gaining followers on social media, so that's definitely a step in the right direction. It's a matter of showing up and just putting ourselves out there.”
Huddleston and Burtzloff also encouraged people in the community to attend future meetings.
“We'll be meeting on the third Thursday of each month for the rest of the year, and those meetings will all be in the Liberal City Commission chambers at the Liberal Recreation Center – those meetings will be Oct. 17, Nov. 21 and Dec. 19, so if anyone wants to come, those are the dates to mark on your calendar,” Huddleston said.
“For a long time, the party met just quarterly, and then things got busy enough that even that dropped off. So we're really working hard to set up monthly meetings and meeting consistently and planning activities,” Burtzloff added. “We were out at the Southwest Community Fiesta with a booth with the Seward County Democrats banner hanging, which is something we haven't done for quite some time. And we actually had quite a few people come up and talk to us, and we gave them some general information and let them know we are, in fact, in Liberal. So consistency is definitely a must, and that is something we're actively working on, and we're also brainstorming on what activities we could do. Being part of this party is just part of who I am, and I'm happy to be an officer again and serve however I can. I'm excited for the future, and I'm looking forward to seeing what we can do. If anyone, anywhere, ever has any questions for me, they are more than to call me at (620) 629-0203 or email me at
