Who here is going to caucus on Saturday?

[SeattleGirl]

I am. Even canceled an out of town trip so I could go to my caucus.

Just curious about how many others here will be going to theirs.

[Kurovski]

1. Me. (nt)

[AmandaRuth]

2. hubby and I

wouldn't miss it.

[yewberry]

3. Yup.

Saturday at the local elementary school for me!

[ptvet]

4. Here!

Should be interesting. I'm even bringing my cold with me to spread around! :hi:

[eridani]

5. Me. n/t

[SeattleGirl]

6. And now, as much as I was looking forward to caucusing, I can't.

There is a grave issue in my family, and I have to go to Oregon.

My best to all of you who will be caucusing on Saturday.

[Pierzin]

7. You bet I am!! First caucus ever...

gonna go caucus up in Ballard! woot!

[insleeforprez]

8. So what's the deal with the Feb 19 primary?

Does it count for anything? I got my absentee ballot for it, and I'm wondering if it's worth the postage to vote and send it back.

[yewberry]

9. For Dems, the primary is non-binding.

Only the caucus counts. I haven't opened my ballot yet--is there anything to vote on other than primary?

The republicans are going half-and-half, which strikes me funny. Imagine that--they could split their vote if they wanted to!

[rhett o rick]

10. Non binding is a nice way of saying it is a waste of time and money.

Funny that the republican method is more "little d" democratic than the Democrats.

There is no excuse for the Democrats not to use the primary results.

[juno jones]

19. Some people have to work on saturdays.

It was slow at the restaurant and the essential people (like moi) covered for the others who wanted to go. But I resent that my vote(if I were to bother) would not count.

[rhett o rick]

26. Please let your county Democratic Party know. We need to fix this stupid

"Democratic" method of choosing delegates. Go by the primary vote and no super-delegates.

[PatGund]

21. completely agreed

I feel like the state Democratic party is slapping the people that couldn't caucus in the face. "Yeah, sure you can vote in the primary, but we could care less what the results are"

[insleeforprez]

13. There's a bond measure for the fire department

That's it.

[eridani]

29. Well, if you are hot for your candidate, do it for the beauty contest boost n/t

[rhett o rick]

11. This will be my second caucus. At my last caucus in 1992 there were four of us

to divide three delegates. I was the only Al Gore supporter but couldn't be a delegate because the Hatch Act outlawed federal employees from being delegates. That Law has been changed. Therefor my Al Gore vote/delegate didn't count and you have seen the consequences.

[The empressof all]

12. I am but.....

My daughter and SO will not be able too. She is so disappointed as she is 17 and this will be her first opportunity to participate. But she has her auditions this afternoon for UW and so my husband will take her and I'll stay back and caucus.

We had thought that we'd be able to do both but decided that it would be cutting the times too close.

[BringEmOn]

14. Caucusing in Spokane

[MrCoffee]

15. My First Caucus!

I'm pretty excited about it. I'm a recent WA transplant and haven't had the caucus experience yet.

[rhett o rick]

16. Leaving now. Want to get parking. Good luck to all. nm

[cats4dems]

17. New to Washington

First time for me. Looking forward to it!

[tavalon]

18. I just got back

As it is the middle of my night, I just went in and signed for my candidate but I can tell you that my precinct was wholly unprepared for the number of electorate who showed up. The friend who came with me wondered if it would be considered election fraud if they closed down the caucus for fire code violations (too many people in too small a place - it was standing room only with a line around the corner.

[Kurovski]

23. We had double the expected turnout.

Or so we were told, and the number of chairs that were pre-set confirmed it.
A few folks were standing.

[countryjake]

24. Our high school cafeteria ran out of chairs and they had to dig out kiddie seats!

I've never seen that many concerned citizens turn out for caucus in our neck of the woods! It was genuinely refreshing!

[Kurovski]

25. I can still fit in a kiddie chair, just barely.

:-) We had almost enough chairs, about ten people were standing.

It was exciting, but I wish we would all vote in the primaries in the US at the same time.

I wrote that, and to do away with the Electoral college, and to have completely publicly financed campaigns.

Oh, we had oodles of suggestions we sent off to the Dem party. Impeachment was one that got applause and whoops.

[PatGund]

20. I can't

Had to work.

Not like the Washington State Democratic party did anything to answer my questions about the caucus anyway.

[Kurovski]

22. I got suckered into being a delegate. It happened so fast, I hardly know what hit me.

:-) April 12 for Obama.

My precinct had 5 for Obama and 4 for Clinton.

Since voting on the 19th is merely for "headlines", and basically meaningless, I'm voting for Edwards.

Crazy.

[PatGund]

27. Since a democratic vote on the 19th is meaningless.....

....I figured I may vote for Ron Paul. Or Mike Gravel. Just to throw random numbers into the mix

[Eastside Blue]

28. First time at caucus

It was a bit chaotic, but it was good to gather with my neighbors and the discussions between the two sides were only mildly heated. There was one thing that REALLY suprised me - no one asked me for any kind of ID. I was asked if I knew which precinct I was in and was told to find the tables for it. So - you didn't even need to be a registered voter?? I guess you could have even been out of state?? My precinct has at least 4 subdivisions, no one knows everyone by sight.

[eridani]

30. Yes. The point is to err on the side of trust

The Pubbies held their caucuses on the same day at the same time. If anybody suspects hankypanky, it should be reported to the state party, which will investigate and adjust the results if it affects delegate count.

[countryjake]

31. Your signature is your ID...

somewhere, someone from your precinct is sitting right now, double checking the signatures on all the sign-in sheets from your caucus against the voter-registration rolls for your district (and verifying the signatures). If anyone shows up who is neither registered or not living in our state (in other words, there is no sig to compare) their name and address and contact info will be investigated and possible charges of fraud will be pursued.

In our tiny precinct, the woman taking the minutes of the meeting had lists of all the people that had the right to vote there and she verified our names as we turned in our sign-in sheets, but I don't think that is standard procedure anymore, since caucuses have become so large.

I would suggest that since now you most likely do know some of your neighbors "by sight" after participating in that caucus, try getting to know them.

[eridani]

32. Stats fpr 11th LD delegates and alternates

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=5116170&mesg_id=5116170