My Caucus Eperience: 

Last week, Alexis Perlmutter and I took some time off and went to Colorado to witness the Colorado Democratic Primary Caucus.  Alexis, a Colorado native, is the political director for Grassroots Democrats.  For Alexis this was her first time participating and voting in the Colorado Caucus.  For me, it was my first time playing witness to the caucus process.

Our trip started on Super Tuesday.  We traveled to the state party headquarters first thing in the morning to volunteer a hand.  While I shook off the cold, Alexis was escorted around the office by a series of state party staff that she was familiar with from working on various campaigns around Colorado.  After meeting almost everyone in the office (a staff of about 10 people plus a hand full of volunteers), and after checking some email, I was put to work on the order of the day – the caucus.  What was needed most was answering the phones.  From the time we arrived to when we left the phones never stopped ringing.  Sitting at one of the computers with the Voter File loaded I answered my first call.

“Colorado Democratic Party, this is Nathan.”

“Hi.  I wanted to confirm that I was registered as a Democrat.”

This is how 70% of the calls started, and most of them were quickly answered with a first and last name search.  Most of the calls I fielded were from people who had registered as Unaffiliated, and had been registered that way for a while.  Whatever you think of Barak or Hillary, they were motivating a huge group of people who had never been involved in this process to make their voice heard.  Unfortunately, there is a 60 day cutoff date for registration, so if you were not a registered Democrat before Dec. 5 2007, well then…there is always next time.

After chain answering calls for hours (I won’t bore you with the details, but imagine giving directions to every friend and family you have), it was time for us to get over to Alexis’ precinct and do what we came to do.  Caucus.  Well, I wasn’t, since it wasn’t my state.  But for the next hour I did the same thing I was doing on the phone.  People who knew enough to get to their precinct location still didn’t quite know their precinct number.   I was set up on a table in the corner, searching, and informing.  Not a bad gig.

The caucus itself is something impressive to see.  First thing to note is the turn out.  In the past few cycles, one could expect 5 to 7 people showing up per precinct.  That day there were 50 to 70 (these are Democrats only number, Republican turnout was far lower).  Despite the large numbers, it was an orderly event.  Everyone broke into their precinct, about 10 precincts were at our location.  There were some basic rules for the meeting.  You can only participate by showing up – miss a vote because you’re late or leave early?  Tough.  There is a simple vote for a Chair and secretary of the meeting.  The Chair reviewed the agenda
– Discussion (In my case only one person stood up and made a case for Barack.  Most seemed to have their mind made up.)
– Straw poll to see if anyone is under 15% (If you are under 15% you do not get delegates to the next level.  There were only Barak and Hillary voters at the precinct I was watching.)
– Final vote (Which is tallied and they send their delegates in proportion to the split, they the vote on who will go to the state convention as a delegate)
– Policy Proposals  (This is where the people submit their ideas for what should be the state party platform.)
– Election of precinct captains and other party staff (These people are expected to help whoever gets the nomination.)

And that was it.  It went as smoothly as I’m typing it out.  People showed up, discussed openly and with respect, made their decisions and went home.  There was a feeling in the room that they had done something important and significant.  I stacked up chairs and tables, and cleaned up around people who were finishing the paperwork that they would be sending into the party headquarters.  And after the last few people had started heading home, Alexis and I did what any tired political junkies would do, go home, drink a beer and watch the returns come in late into the night.

This was accomplished by the state party, county parties, and local activists.  This process will repeat itself as the delegates nominated at this level meet to choose delegates to the state convention.  It will repeat one more time as the State convention decides who will go to the national.  I encourage everyone to attend a caucus to see how the grassroots make this party what it is and will be.

Nathan Stankowski
Grassroots Democrats