I’ve been reading a lot of uninformed speculation from people in the past day about the current Caucus results being released about the state of the Nevada Caucus and the Delegates elected there.
Both here on Daily Kos and in the wider Social Media audience, too.
As someone who has spent the last 30 years as a voter in a Caucus state; let me help all of you who are mistaken, mis-informed or just confused about what the Caucus system is and how it’s not like a popular vote Election state at all.
To begin with, in a Caucus state, popular vote totals don’t matter. I know, that seems like anathema to a member of the Democratic Party. But it is the truth in Caucus states for the purposes of the partisan Democratic Party quadrennial presidential primary election process — and for only that race and for no other.
The only count which does count is the Delegate Count. What it is today, and what will it be at the end of the State Democratic Party Convention, after the final vote tally — which, if you ask me, should be the ONLY tally the State Party discloses to anyone, including (most especially) the Media.
Why do I think that? Because the only Delegate Count which matters is the one which is announced on the Floor of the National Convention in July, and that count will NOT be known in my state until June 17-19 at the Washington Democratic Party State Convention.
Because here’s the deal for members of the Democratic Party —
A state with a presidential primary Election
has a single day EVENT.
A state with a presidential primary Caucus
has a PROCESS which can last months.
Precinct Caucus — March 26
All interested Democratic voters can attend their precinct caucus and cast a ballot
Those who are interested in continuing on as Delegates stand for election as Delegates and Alternates for the next level of caucus
Legislative District (LD) Caucuses April — 17th
(only held some regions of the state)
Many LD’s opt to hold their LD Caucus at the same time/date as their County Convention
All those elected Delegates and Alternates at the Precinct level should attend the LD Caucus and cast a ballot. Those who run and are elected at the LD level advance as Voting Delegates to the County Convention.
County Conventions — May 1st
Since most LDs hold their Caucus with the County Convention, Local candidates get time to address Conventioneers and Party Plank resolutions are discussed and voted on. The Delegate voting of the LDs usually takes place at the end of the County Convention.
Just like at the precinct level, those who are interested in continuing on as Delegates stand for election as Delegates and Alternates for the next level of caucus, which is the Congressional District Caucus.
Congressional District (CD) Caucuses
The Congressional District Caucuses will elect 67 delegates to the National Convention. Each Congressional District Caucus will also elect one presidential elector and one alternate.
State Convention — June 17th to 19th
Delegates and alternates elected at the legislative district caucuses also serve as delegates and alternates to State Convention, which will be held from Friday, June 17th through Sunday, June 19th in Tacoma.
The State Convention will elect presidential electors, adopt a state party platform, and address resolutions.
In addition, those members of the Washington State Democratic Central Committee who represent Legislative Districts will meet on Sunday, June 19th to elect 12 Pledged Party Leaders and Elected Official delegates (PLEOs), 19 delegates and 7 alternates to the National Convention.
At each and every level of the Caucus system, Precinct to Legislative District to County to Congressional District to State, votes will be cast for Delegates. The only real vote in a Caucus state for a presidential candidate to become the nominee of the Party is the first vote in the precinct caucus. The second vote at that precinct level is for Delegates who will represent the votes for presidential preference just cast by the neighbors in their precinct (about 500 — 1,100 people).
It is an intentional part of the process that the events of the wider presidential primary may impact the level of Delegate count in the state, which is why there is another vote taken at each level of the primary. Perhaps outside events will cause a candidate to withdraw from the race. The State Party wouldn’t want to end up at the National Floor Vote with only votes for a candidate no longer in the running, would they?
Which brings us to present day, and the massive numbers of people who are unfamiliar with the workings of a Caucus Process, who have been posting claims of immoral behavior on the the part of either/or the Sanders campaign or the Sanders supporters (Delegates and Alternates) in the ongoing Nevada Caucus, which held County Level Caucus/Conventions yesterday.
Apparently there was some mis-information sent out to prospective Delegates and Alternates by a County Official (not a campaign person from either camp) via email which instructed Elected Delegates that if they signed into the Convention on Friday night they weren’t required to attend the all day Saturday Convention.
Since, State and County Party officials have had a lot of blowback on social media, as they should have. Both Clinton and Sanders campaign made efforts to see their Delegates and Alternates got the correct information. It may have affected the attendance yesterday by Clinton Delegates, or it may not have. It’s within the realm of possibility that some of them changed their minds since the Nevada Precinct Caucus. Some of them may have failed to understand they HAD to continue to attend the next level of Caucus for their ballot to be counted in the next vote, it happens here in Washington State every Caucus cycle. You know people like this, they come to an event, they find out there will be more fun a bit down the road, they want in, so they sign up… and when the time comes, they have a conflict in their schedule and they think to themselves, “Well, I did already vote, so I think I’ll just skip this meeting.”
All of that sturm und drang aside, however, what needs to be known is that THIS IS NOT THE LAST TIME NEVADA DELEGATES WILL VOTE FOR SANDERS OR CLINTON.
They still have Congressional District and State Convention to attend. More voting will follow. Delegate counts are LIKELY to change again at the next level, especially if there is more swing in the national race between now and then. But even if it’s not, it’s possible that a small group of dedicated Delegates will marshall their PR forces and convince Delegates for the other campaign to change their vote at the next level. It happens sometimes, mostly when the nation is riled up and the current Race for the White House is contentious and makes a lot of news.
So please, if you come from a Presidential Primary Election State? Don’t run around calling Sanders or his Nevada Delegates liars or immoral or claim they are encouraging disenfranchisement — because that is simply not true in any way shape or form.
These Democrats are participating in the form of the presidential preference primary their State Party has chosen. They aren’t breaking rules or acting immorally or trying to undo the vote of the precinct caucus voters. They are following the rule of their State Caucus process.
This is how a Caucus works. If you find it terribly bad and undemocratic and you live in a Caucus State? You should be attending your Caucus process and getting elected Delegate to the State and National Convention — so that you have a platform from which to rally for a conversion to a Primary Election.
It’s one of the resolutions I’ll be submitting to my own LD Caucus/County Convention which I’ll attend as an Elected Delegate for Bernie Sanders on May 1st, in Vancouver, Washington.
Because I too believe that all of our states should do away with the Caucus for the purposes of casting a ballot for presidential primary preference. We should use the Caucus system to elect our Delegates to the National Nominating Convention and for discussing and voting on Party Planks. Far too many of our Democratic Party voters are kept from casting a ballot for a nominee of their choice due to a variety of reasons: had to work, had sick kid, never heard about the Caucus thought I would vote in July in the Primary election…
It is an outdated, anachronistic process and it doesn’t help our states, our candidates or our Democratic Party voters.
But until we get rid of it, it’s what we have to work with.
You don’t have to like it, but you do have to accept it and how it works and stop making accusations about fraud or nastiness. At least for this election season.