Dixie Miller was elected by the Calvert County Democratic Central Committee to fill a gender-balance slot required by the Democratic National Committee and the State Democratic Party.

Kathy Tollerton, Camille Hawit, Monica Silbas, and Kay Parris were strong contenders for the open Central Committee slot.

"Any one of these great contenders would have been a great addition to our Committee.  I am sure Dixie Miller will do a great job," said Beth Swoap, treasurer of the committee.

The DNC requires gender-balance when electing delegates to the national convention to be held in the summer of 2008 to nominate the party's slate for President and Vice President of the US.  To comply, the Maryland State Democratic Party requires each county's central committee to be gender balanced.  But the state law establishing Calvert County's Democratic Central Committee sets the number of members at nine.  So the By-Laws of the County's Central Committee allow for the Committee to elect additional members to comply with State and National requirements.  Such members can vote on matters before the State Central Committee but not at the County Central Committee level.

"In practice, we will include the newly-elected member in all of our meetings and deliberations," said Central Committee chairman, Chris Reynolds.