The problem with caucuses....

[PrincessFiona]

Last night, I caucused for Clinton in MN (yep...I know...we lost). We were allowed to cast our vote from 7-8pm at the caucus location for dems. Every nurse, doctor, caribou, wal-mart, target etc worker who was WORKING could not caucus..their votes were not counted...regardless of the candidate that they supported.

[MDPhDWife]

Re: The problem with caucuses....

I'm really surprised there was only an hour timeframe to vote! Our hours were from 12-7, but we still had several issues. Some polling locations ran out of paper ballots, so people had to wait an hour or more for more ballots to be brought. One suburb had only one polling location (despite having a population of 80K) so some people waited up to 4 hours to vote. Some of this time was spent outside where it was freezing yesterday.

DH and I checked online to determine where our polling location would be before we left the house since it changes often. Once we got there, our name wasn't anywhere on the list, so we had to fill out provisional ballots. As it turns out, our provisional ballots now have the wrong congressional district on them. When we got home we checked again and found another site indicating our polling location was somewhere completely different. I was concerned our vote wouldn't count, so I loaded the kids back up and went to the other location and asked what they recommended. I called our local democratic party and they assured us our vote would end up counting. :huh:

As it currently stands NM has yet to be called since the candidates are only separated by 117 votes with 17,000 provisional votes still to be counted.

[DCJenn]

Re: The problem with caucuses....

It's like Christmas.

Mom and I plopped on the couch last night, bottle of wine in hand and had a GREAT time.

I was fascinated by all of the results.

Kris- to you point- how in the heck do they expect a full turnout of people?

Jenn

Re: The problem with caucuses....

That is one of MANY problems w/caucuses, IMO. (I posted my caucus story in the Obama thread for anyone who is interested). The limited timeframe, the lack of annonymity. I thought last night - while exhilirating (and exciting to see so many dems) was INSANE. I also don't believe for a minute that they got an accurate count. Obama supporters greatly outnumbered Clinton supporters - but the lines of people to be counted had barely formed when they dismissed us.

I have a hard time blaming the democratic party of Kansas -- how could they know that the turnout would be so much higher? But I didn't hear a single story where they weren't overwhelmed, understaffed, and overflowing w/people.

Re: The problem with caucuses....

I am accustomed to a ballot primary, like a regular election. This caucus business baffles me.

I never voted in the Colorado primaries because I was registered independent and only people registered with a party could vote. Also, the primaries were in May (I think?) but moved to super Tuesday. Now the primary here is late as well.

In some ways I feel left out but because I would have to decide who to vote for maybe it is better to wait.