Democracy Stresses Me Out, Too
I went to my precinct’s caucus today- I had never been to a caucus before, because well, I used to live in Illinois. And in Illinois, the primaries counted, and so I never bothered with the caucus. I’m sure they had one, I just never knew anyone who went.
Anyway, when I first checked my caucus location on the Washington State Democrats’ webpage a week or two ago, I was told that it was at B.F. Day Elementary School. Then, last night, after the Obama rally, I checked again, and the page said I was supposed to go to Hamilton Middle School. I was all sorts of confused, so I checked with my husband’s information on both the Wa. Democrats’ page, and the Obama page- this morning, they both said Hamilton Middle School.
However, one of our neighbors didn’t re-check, and showed up late after walking to B.F. Day, and then walking back to our building to get his car to drive over to the middle school. Poor guy :( I guess if I were a better neighbor, I would have known he was voting and told him the right caucus location.
Another thing I was a little surprised by was the abundance of Obama stickers and signs up on the walls of the precinct location. In Illinois, there is a law that no campaign materials are allowed within a certain distance of a polling place. I think someone else had the same curiosity, because a guy at the other end of the table explained that it had to do with the caucus primarily being a party-sponsored activity, where primaries are run by the government proper. I don’t know if that’s true, but it makes sense.
As for the actual caucus, our precinct, with its 7 delegates, initially voted 5-Obama, 1-Clinton and 1-Undecided. After a quick round of arguments (mostly about the positions of each candidate on the No Child Left Behind laws; we had a preponderance of teachers in our precinct, I guess), the Undecided vote went to Obama, leaving it at 6-Obama, 1-Clinton. The arguments really stressed me out, though- by the time they were finished, I was shaking. I thought Seattleites might be too polite to really try to sway each others’ votes, but I was very, very wrong. I’m glad the debating didn’t last too long- it was pretty intense, and intense conflict does not make me a happy camper. However… I am happy I went- it was extremely educational and interesting. And a good way to meet my neighbors ;)
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Party caucus rules are completely different from federal election rules. The parties encourage on-the-spot campaigning. I was a bit taken aback by the public sign up sheets asking for your birthday and your LGBT identification, if any. In Ballard, people were asking what "LGBT" meant.
Just another reminder: caucuses are not elections.
Think of them as neighborhood party political conventions - and consider yourself lucky that there’s no candidate that the party "machine" is pushing this year.
I remember my very first caucus in ‘88 and the precinct chairman’s virtual demand that our delegates would go to Dukakis, that Jesse Jackson people should just shut up and (incorrectly) that we could not and would not send undecided delegates.