My First Caucus

Even though we just got home from Oregon yesterday, Heather and I decided to embrace the frosty winter wonderland in our front wheel drive sleigh and caucus. Because of parking issues, we barely made it to our caucus site before the 7:00PM deadline. Once inside, the whole process was more chaotic and ad hoc than I thought it would be. We were directed to a room specifically allotted to our party that was way too small for the 260 people gathered there. The first thing that was done was to count every eligible voter in the room. This was done by the chair by simply counting everyone and then asking the entire group, "Is there anyone who I did not count?" We were then told to stand in certain areas of the room depending on who we were supporting. The room was so full of people that it was difficult to discern any kind of dividing line between the six groups that formed. We just stood in our area and eventually someone came around and counted everyone in our group. This was done by making eye contact with the counter, and then sitting down once you were counted. A couple people made this process more confusing because they were not physically able to sit down on the floor (there were not chairs) after they were counted. Finally, all the groups were counted and the candidates with a number of supporters that totaled less that 15% of the number of people gathered in the room were declared to be ineligible. Those who were supporting an ineligible candidate were given the option of realigning with an eligible candidate or sitting off to the side in support of nobody. People supporting any of the eligible candidates were given the option of talking to any of those who were supporting ineligible candidates to convince them to realign with their candidate. This process took quite a while. Finally, three groups were formed (three of the candidates were declared ineligible) and a total count was acquired from each group. At that point the total number of supporters for each candidate were divided by 15% of the total number of eligible voters in the room to determine how many representatives each candidate would receive from the precinct. The results were then announced to the entire group and representatives were chosen from each group.

In the past, voting had always been for me a private, orderly and official feeling event. This caucus was refreshing. It was public, loud, spontaneous, and disorganized. More like real life.