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http://pollfinder.sos.state.mn.us

In the Republican Party of Minnesota (MN GOP), BPOU stands for Basic Political Operating Unit.  BPOUs are the local organizing entity for caucuses, conventions, local GOP events and grassroots organizing within the party.  The average 2025 population of the 40 Metro Minneapolis-St. Paul BPOUs is approximately 85,000 citizens. These Metro BPOUs are the same size as the Senate Districts that define their boundaries and populations.   Outside the Metro area, because BPOUs are designed to engage people locally, the BPOUs serve a similar-sized geography with lower population density.  So in rural MN, there are multiple smaller BPOUs per Senate District, with 81 additional BPOUs outside the Metro area serving a population of approximately 2.3 Million outside the metro area.  

Precincts are a smaller political unit operating inside of a BPOU.  Each BPOU supports about 20 precincts (in Senate District 42 there are 22 precincts).  These precincts vary in size, but active precincts help organize volunteers to promote party ideology and to grow the base in their precincts during non-election years.  Then, during election season, precinct volunteers become the ground game engine for candidate campaigns.

Despite the vital grassroots role of BPOU precincts, the BPOU has it name because it's the basic political operating unit for caucuses, conventions and organizational development within the party.  BPOUs operate as independent entities.  They have their own leadership, membership, budget, etc. 

During election year caucuses, the membership of each BPOU selects delegates and alternates who will subsequently nominate candidates, delegates and alternates at sequential conventions at the Senate District (BPOU), Congressional District and State Party level.  During off-election years, BPOU conventions are held to elect the BPOU leadership required to, maintain district leadership, develop the precincts of the district, and recruit and develop candidates for even-year election campaigns (see Political Process)

Despite being independent, BPOUs are part of a political party hierarchy.  

Our BPOU, Senate District 42 (SD 42) is entirely located in Congressional District 3 along with all or part of 9 other BPOUs (Senate Districts). Senate District 42 is comprised of House Districts 42A & 42B.  Each House District is represented in the state legislature by a MN State Representative and SD 42 as a whole is represented in the MN Senate by one MN State Senator.

SD 42 includes Plymouth (except for P-16 which is in SD 43), Medicine Lake and Eden Prairie Precinct-12.   Overall, there are 22 precincts in SD 42.

The leadership of SD 42 GOP consists of an Executive Board with a Chair, Deputy Chair, Treasurer, Secretary and at least 3 Vice Chairs from each of the two house districts.  The 22 SD 42 GOP precincts each have a Chair, Vice Chair(s) and Secretary who are elected at the even-year Precinct Caucuses.  There  are also 3 delegates and 6 alternates elected to represent SD 42 GOP at the MN GOP State Central Committee, which is responsible for the general management of the Republican Party of Minnesota's affairs in between even-year State conventions.

Your polling location is based upon your precinct.  Generally, each precinct has a distinct polling location at a church, school, community center or other public building. 

A BPOU may be redistricted when the legislature changes the district boundaries to reflect population changes. Generally, this happens no more than once in a decade.  The redistricting process is political, with the party in power working to redraw the district lines to favor its electoral demographics. 

Senate District 42 Executive committee meets 2-3 times per month either in executive meetings or events to support and develop precinct leaders and volunteers..