Thank god Maryland is a primary and not a caucus

[UMTerp01]

I don't think I have the temperament to handle a caucus. As a matter of fact I know I don't. The yelling and things I'm hearing that are coming out of caucuses would probably lead me to punch some douchebag in the face and then I'd end up being arrested. No. Thank you Maryland for being a primary. I can go in, vote, and leave.

[Ruby the Liberal]

1. I don't think I could handle a caucus

I run my mouth enough. Voting should be just STFU and fill in the bubble. That, and no way am I standing around for hours while a few of my neighbors try to figure out how to add 2 + 2. I applaud those in caucus states. No way would I have the patience for it.

[angrychair]

13. I live in Washington state

This was my first caucus. I was also the precinct committee chair. So I was running the very first caucus I have ever attended.
Ours was crowded and busy by our area's normal election and our room was packed.

As simple as it it may seem, unfortunately it is not just counting, as it is not about just filling out a form declaring a presidential preference. it's about delegates.
The math is not that straight-forward. You have several people looking over your shoulder, asking you questions and all in a room full of hundreds of people.

It's stressful but it was a lot of fun and an amazing experience. I can see the pitfalls in this type of process but there are was big advantages too. Hands-on small "d" democracy, is always going to be better.

[Blue_In_AK]

2. Our caucus was fantastic,

but it probably helps that everyone was for Bernie.

[DamnYankeeInHouston]

3. I have mixed feelings after doing both.

Caucuses are fun. I considered caucuses unhackable because you vote with your bodies until employees in Las Vegas had to caucus for Hillary while on the clock and in view of their bosses. Votes need to be private. Primaries are easier, but susceptible to so many kinds of tampering.

[Art_from_Ark]

5. +1

[Codeine]

4. I can't imagine standing in a room with that many people

inhaling all the pit sweat and bad breath and dirty hair reek without losing my mind.

I'll stick to secret ballots and get-in-vote-get-out myself, thanks.

[99Forever]

6. So you would commit physical violence to someone because they disagreed with you?

Which party did you say you are a member of?





Our DFL caucus here was a wonderful experience, with lots great interaction with our neighbors and DFL party members. Many had excellent resolutions that I will take to our SD caucus next Saturday. We didn't have any "douchbags" show up, most of them stayed home and griped about the 'da gub'mint bean all messeded up.'

[Surya Gayatri]

10. Sure, a vibrant and frank exchange of views BEFORE the vote at the polling venue is fine.

But, the SECRET ballot should be sacrosanct as a basic tenet of true democratic governance.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1251&pid=1581478

[99Forever]

12. Our ballot was secret.

WTF are you on about?

[Surya Gayatri]

14. The physical act of "caucusing", i.e. "separating the sheep from the lambs", renders one's

choice public.

Don't know how your Dem. caucus is carried out, but in serveral I've witnessed, people are literally herded into separate corners of the venue, according to their preferred candidate.

THIS IS NOT A SECRET VOTE!

[99Forever]

15. We filled out a ballot with NO identifying marks on them.

They were then double counted by volunteer precinct members of the DFL, my neighbors. All VERY transparent, all VERY "secret ballot." NOT open to manipulating by dirty politicians. VERY democratic. Perhaps that's your problem with it. Cheating cheaters can't rig the results.

[Surya Gayatri]

16. Did you intend to insinuate that I condone cheating? Or was your

choice of words just unfortunate. Hum? I don't expect a retraction any time soon, though, however egregious the language.

Whichever way you care to spin it, the secret ballot, individual voting-booth method is the most democratic. Too many examples of haranguing, browbeating and exertion of undue influence have been reported, on both sides within the caucus context.

Jeezus, even in a jury deliberation room, the secrecy of voting is sacrosanct.

[99Forever]

18. The establishment candidate's campaign clearly...

... not only condones cheating, but conducts it. Clearly, when the process ISN'T open to manipulation and fraud, Bernie mops the floor with Hillary.

BTW Hillary supporter, there are NO individual voting-booths in jury deliberation rooms, the "secret jury balloting" is conducted EXACTLY as our caucus's voting was. Nice bucket of FAIL you've got there.

[Surya Gayatri]

20. As I said, I expect no retraction...

And, as much as it seems to irk you, voting booths are a sine qua non for secret voting in large public elections. They are a physical impossibility in the deliberation room.

Own your own fail, rather than projecting it on to those you disagree with.

How sophomoric and juvenile are you, to have recourse only to infantile internet memes?

[99Forever]

21. Lots of fail of the Hillary side yesterday.

Just in case you didn't notice. She got stomped.

[Surya Gayatri]

22. .../...

Recommended reading.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-monotonic_logic

[99Forever]

24. I wouldn't read a link from you if my life depended on it.

Clinton supporters, like their candidate, are not to be trusted, in anything.

[Surya Gayatri]

25. You don't trust Wikipedia? Or, is it beyond your powers of reading comprehension, perhaps?

[99Forever]

26. Ahhh. Personal insults. Isn't that special?

The last refuge of those losing a debate.

Bu bye.

[Surya Gayatri]

27. Yes, good bye. I've played with you enough. Ultimately,

your discursive talents are so feeble as to render them boring.

[H2O Man]

7. gracious!

[Dem2]

8. I'm with you on that

Caucuses sound like the old west - I can't imagine this system lasting more than a few more election cycles...

[Surya Gayatri]

11. An archaic throwback to early attempts at democracy...

Reminiscent of the Estates-General of 1789 at the beginning of the French Revolution, the dysfunction of which was in part responsible for the later rise of "The Terror".

[Amishman]

17. i doubt they will go away, we like our outdated methods - electoral college anyone?

[Surya Gayatri]

9. The secret ballot is a BASIC tenet of democratic governance.

Caucuses are essentially undemocratic--a throwback to early small town hall meetings with rule by browbeating, haranguing and undue influence.

You may be able to shout down your opposite number, but nobody can truly vote according to their conscience under the pressure of public regard.

There's a reason we have individual voting booths. Your vote is private and should be nobody else's business.

[R B Garr]

19. I totally understand and would not want anything to do with it myself.

Who needs to be intimidated by hostile and angry people as you are forced to share your personal thoughts about politicians with total strangers. I would not want those angry people knowing who I am and having to deal with them if you live in their areas.

I saw one man on CNN yesterday who said he was only voting for Bernie because he thought it would stop Trump, although he initially favored Trump. He looked positively...agitated. Imagine being surrounded by people like that when all you want to do is vote. Ugh, I totally agree with you.

[Surya Gayatri]

28. Exactly. "Imagine being surrounded by people like that when all you want to do is vote."

And, I suspect that that Trump supporter, masquerading as a Bernie fan, is a more common phenomenon than we care to imagine.

[bigtree]

23. early voting here is the best

[MineralMan]

29. The caucus in my Minnesota precinct

was crowded, but absolutely peaceful. People came and voted on our secret ballots (quarter sheets of paper, since we ran out of printed ballots). We had a few people speak on behalf of a candidate. Voting lasted an hour. Other business, before and after the voting added another hour, but most people left after voting.

My problem with the caucus system is that it is too small a sample to accurately represent the precinct. We had 58 voters, in a precinct with about 2300 registered voters. In a typical primary election in Minnesota, between 20-30% of voters show up. It's very easy for supporters of a candidate to bring enough people to a caucus to shift the voting in a candidate's favor.

That's why I'm supporting the upcoming legislation in our state legislature to move to a primary election for the presidency. I want a bigger sample to reflect the actual will of the voters in each precinct.

BTW, Bernie won in my caucus, 37-21.

[TransitJohn]

30. Nice attitude

"Douchebag"?
Team Donkey has lots of cohesion!

[firebrand80]

31. I never skip voting

But I really don't think I would participate in a caucus