Anecdotal Caucus Report
The elementary school two blocks from our house was the location of several precinct caucuses in our neighborhood. Turnout was enormous, easily twice to three times that of the caucuses last Presidential round.
As the hub-bub built in the gymnasium, and many new caucus participants tried to find the table to sign in for their particular precinct, organizers scrambled to have the janitor open a few other rooms in the building. After initial announcements, two precincts were sent to the library down the hall, then my precinct and another one were sent across the hall, and several remained in the gym.
The crowds made everything a bit awkward, and volunteers who'd originally signed up months ago, probably expecting a post-Super Tuesday tiny turnout, were slightly overwhelmed. There were enough people that even having two precincts in the same large classroom was hard. (Our precinct alone had 110 voters attending, theirs slightly fewer.)
The process worked by having everyone sign in, and write down their initial candidate preference. Then, after those totals were summed up and announced, there was a short time for speeches from supporters of either candidate. Then there was a period for those who wanted to change their vote to go to the precinct secretary, and write down the new preference. After that total, percentages determined how many of the number of precinct delegate seats alloted to our precinct would go to each candidate.
I never heard the vote count from the other precinct, but of the six delegates they had to elect, 5 went to Obama, 1 to Clinton. In our precinct, we also had six delegates, who went 4 to Obama, 2 to Clinton, though that was an artifact of having to round up a delegate that was .69 Clinton, .25 Obama and the rest representing the lone undecided voter who remained.
These are not national delegates but go to the next level of state party caucus, where they vote for other delegates, who then go to the state party convention to vote for the national delegates. Presumably there will be some other rounding adjustments at those levels, but if other precincts went like the two in our room, Obama will get the large majority of Washington's delegates at the national convention.
Of course, I live in a precinct in the most liberal legislative district in the state, and my Congressman is Jim McDermott, so there's probably little likelihood that precincts in my neighborhood are representative of the rest of the state. Still, we can hope.
Interestingly, as an Obama supporter was asking how many of us thought that Obama had a better chance of attracting independent voters, one woman in the room spoke up saying that she was an independent voter, who'd come to caucus for Obama.
No one in the crowd seemed to dispute the idea that Senator Clinton is a talented and capable politician and inspiring woman. My sense was that Obama supporters were choosing Obama because he offers things she can't, not that she doesn't have a lot to offer.
As the hub-bub built in the gymnasium, and many new caucus participants tried to find the table to sign in for their particular precinct, organizers scrambled to have the janitor open a few other rooms in the building. After initial announcements, two precincts were sent to the library down the hall, then my precinct and another one were sent across the hall, and several remained in the gym.
The crowds made everything a bit awkward, and volunteers who'd originally signed up months ago, probably expecting a post-Super Tuesday tiny turnout, were slightly overwhelmed. There were enough people that even having two precincts in the same large classroom was hard. (Our precinct alone had 110 voters attending, theirs slightly fewer.)
The process worked by having everyone sign in, and write down their initial candidate preference. Then, after those totals were summed up and announced, there was a short time for speeches from supporters of either candidate. Then there was a period for those who wanted to change their vote to go to the precinct secretary, and write down the new preference. After that total, percentages determined how many of the number of precinct delegate seats alloted to our precinct would go to each candidate.
I never heard the vote count from the other precinct, but of the six delegates they had to elect, 5 went to Obama, 1 to Clinton. In our precinct, we also had six delegates, who went 4 to Obama, 2 to Clinton, though that was an artifact of having to round up a delegate that was .69 Clinton, .25 Obama and the rest representing the lone undecided voter who remained.
These are not national delegates but go to the next level of state party caucus, where they vote for other delegates, who then go to the state party convention to vote for the national delegates. Presumably there will be some other rounding adjustments at those levels, but if other precincts went like the two in our room, Obama will get the large majority of Washington's delegates at the national convention.
Of course, I live in a precinct in the most liberal legislative district in the state, and my Congressman is Jim McDermott, so there's probably little likelihood that precincts in my neighborhood are representative of the rest of the state. Still, we can hope.
Interestingly, as an Obama supporter was asking how many of us thought that Obama had a better chance of attracting independent voters, one woman in the room spoke up saying that she was an independent voter, who'd come to caucus for Obama.
No one in the crowd seemed to dispute the idea that Senator Clinton is a talented and capable politician and inspiring woman. My sense was that Obama supporters were choosing Obama because he offers things she can't, not that she doesn't have a lot to offer.
posted by Paul at 5:13 PM |
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