What Is a Democratic Caucus, and Why Should I Care?
— from David Turnoy —
You may have noticed that this is a presidential election year. The majority of states hold primary elections to select delegates for candidates, while 13 states hold caucuses for this purpose. The state of Washington has two primaries, one in May devoted to presidential candidates and one in August for other elected offices and initiatives. In addition, the Republicans hold a caucus in February, and the Democrats hold a caucus in March. Just a little confusing, eh?
Even though the state of Washington holds both a presidential primary and a caucus, at least on the Democratic Party side, it is the caucus that determines Washington’s presidential support for candidates at the National Democratic Convention. All around the state on Saturday, March 26, at 10:00 AM, citizens who would like to participate in choosing the Democratic nominee for President will gather at various locations to conduct a caucus. The caucus on Orcas will be held in the cafeteria at the public school, and I have the honor of running
How does a caucus work? First, everyone needs to arrive BEFORE 10:00 AM to sign in; under state party requirements, doors will be locked at 10:00 AM. There will be an opportunity to register in advance online, which will save lots of waiting in line at the caucus on the 26th; just print out your form and bring it with you. Once I have the information from the state party, I will publicize how to register online. By the way, even if you are not a registered Democrat, as long as you are willing to sign a statement that you consider yourself a Democrat, you can participate in the caucus. If you are not a registered voter, you can still participate, but you will have to register if you want to vote later in the year. We will hopefully have some voter registration cards with us, but you can also register online. Finally, if you are only 17 years old but will be 18 by the time of the election on Nov. 8, you can still participate in the caucus.
After everyone is checked in, we will split up by precinct. There are four precincts on Orcas: 22 is basically Deer Harbor and points west of Crow Valley Road.; 23 includes around the ferry and up Orcas Road toward Eastsound; 24 is Eastsound and southeast to the middle of Orcas Highlands; and 25 is the southern part of Orcas Highlands and on south to Olga, Doe Bay, etc. If you have a voter registration card, that will list your precinct. Also, if you register online, you should be able to find out your precinct at that time. In addition, I will have some information at the caucus.
After splitting up by precinct, each precinct’s members will divide according to which candidate they support. Each candidate must have a minimum threshold number to be “viable”; it is often 15% of the participants from that precinct. Participants supporting an unviable candidate then have the opportunity to go over to another candidate who is viable. There is also the opportunity for participants to have a friendly discussion about the candidates to try to persuade others to join their candidate’s group. This is the “caucusing” part of the event. Once all the persuading and cajoling is done, the numbers for each candidate in each precinct will be recorded.
The final matter is to select delegates to represent these groups at the county convention in Friday Harbor on May 1. I will receive information from the state party as to how many delegates we on Orcas get to choose; it will probably be about 30 delegates plus alternates. You might start thinking about whether you would like to become a delegate. The county convention will then choose seven delegates to attend a convention at the Congressional district level later in May, where delegates will be chosen to attend the national convention in Philadelphia toward the end of July.
If you have any questions about the Democratic Party caucus, feel free to contact me at 376-4165 or davidgeri@centurylink.net.
**If you are reading theOrcasonian for free, thank your fellow islanders. If you would like to support theOrcasonian CLICK HERE to set your modestly-priced, voluntary subscription. Otherwise, no worries; we’re happy to share with you.**
Thank you for this very thorough explanation.
Has it yet been determined where the different caucus meetings will be held?
All the caucus meetings will be in the school cafeteria.
What is the point of the presidential primary in May, for Democrats at least, if the caucus in March determines the candidate? Or don’t we vote in May?
So, to complete the information for interested voters, where and when is the Republican caucus? Can someone attend both ?
Responses to the last two comments:
There is no real point to having both; seems like kind of a waste. We will also vote in the May presidential primary, but it is really just window dressing.
There is a Republican caucus Feb. 20, but the R’s choose their delegates through the primary system. If you attend their caucus, you have to sign a form that you will not attend another caucus, so no, you can’t attend both.
David
I need to add that participants in the caucus must be registered to vote unless they are only 17. Anyone who will be 18 by election day on Nov. 8 can participate in the caucus, but otherwise one must be registered. I had mentioned prior that you didn’t have to be registered to participate in the caucus, but I have been informed by the state party that you must be registered.
Thanks,
David Turnoy
David; thank you for taking the time and effort to explain all this about caucuses. Just knowing that you will be running this caucus puts me slightly more at ease about attending this caucus, in terms of integrity.
I feel I must tell people why I detest and deplore caucuses. We finally have a presidential race in which there are popular candidates in both parties. There is a lot at stake since it was decided for We the Voters that 100% of our delegates will be determined by the March caucus! That seems like a suicidal move for the Democratic Party; but then, I’ve seen a lot of tremendously weak and stupid moves by the Party, which is why I can no longer in good conscience support it, and why, if it continues on the course it is on, it will implode from within.
The restrictions on time, and getting locked-in for hours(!) does not work for most working people – all the “have- to’s” – which means that a select few with more free time are going to decide for the voters of SJC who gets the delegates. That’s great if they choose the candidate that you want. But if they don’t? Can’t we just walk in by 10, put our name on the candidate we want, and leave? Where does this leave people without that flexibility in their schedule?
We finally have an election where there is more than 1 viable candidate for both parties – in other words, a real race – which is why the caucuses scare me to death, and they should scare others in the Democratic Party and Independents, too.
In the caucus for the 2008 elections, it was a dismal turnout in both King and San Juan Counties. One man had to take a ferry back from the mainland in order to vote at the Orcas caucus, and his ferry was late. The people running the caucus told him no he could not vote, he was late (through no fault of his own.) This man was almost in tears. We demanded that he get a vote! Finally they relented and let him in to vote. This was no way to treat someone dedicated enough to hurry home on a ferry to vote. In a primary, this would never have been an issue.
When I entered the cafeteria for the caucus, it was mayhem and I am sure I looked quite confused – from both the visual overload and the crowds of people – both of which are hard for me. Next thing I knew, I was strong-armed by some enthusiastic supporter of Candidate A and told; “just sign your name here and here under Candidate A.” I was horrified! It was more like a three ring circus than a caucus, and in my deer-in-the-headlights stupor, I obediently signed – then recoiled. NO! I aid to the guy I’d made a mistake and wanted to scratch out my signature and give my vote to someone else than Candidate A. They refused to let me scratch out my name so I just did it anyway, and walked away. It was like being at a used car showroom with every used car pimp pumping his wreck-mobile. It left a bad taste in my mouth to this day, and it is why I no longer can support the Democratic party or these stupid and ineffectual caucuses that don’t really represent the population in its many facets and nuances! That said, I’ll play the game, sign the paper even while trying to suppress gagging, and vote for the Candidate of my Choice.
Only 25 percent of the usual voter turnout showed at the 2008 caucus. Let’s say that SJC usually has a 62% voter turnout of all registered voters (it may be higher); and then cut that down to 25% of this 62% – I do not feel comfortable with a handful of voters deciding who gets the ALL delegates for our primaries. March seems too early to decide that. It scares the heck out of me to think that this is how delegates for our county and state are chosen.
I think we should follow suit with the Republicans – go ahead and have a caucus, sure – shoot the breeze and try to convince each other to defect to some other candidate if that rings your bell and you have the time and inclination. But our final voice and 100% of our delegates should happen in the Primaries – not a caucus in March!