Average Jane Goes to a Caucus

I've been registered to vote ever since I turned 18, and I always make a point of voting in every primary and election. However, for some reason I'd never been to a Democratic caucus since I moved to Kansas about 15 years ago.

It may be because they don't make the process particularly easy. There's no notice from the county election board; you pretty much have to decide to go, look up your location on the Kansas Democratic Party's website, and show up.

I did all that yesterday morning, so I was prepared to go home from work, eat dinner, and go to the caucus location (a medium-sized church) before the 7 o'clock cutoff. I'd been told by a past caucus attendee to expect "several hundred people" and a line to get in.

As soon as I got within a couple of blocks of the intersection, I could tell there was an enormous crowd. Cars were parked everywhere that you could possibly put a car, and I ended up going several blocks down a side street and hoping that nobody decided I was too close to a fire hydrant.

A line of people stretched around the outside the building, through the parking lot and up the street for blocks.

I was headed to the end of the line, but heard someone call my name. It was Andy, who kindly let me cut in line with him. He says I owe him $10.

It was about 34 degrees Fahrenheit and lightly misting, but nobody was complaining initially, even though it was obvious that no one expected the enormous crowd and outside wait. It took about an hour to get from the line on the sidewalk to the door of the church.

(Sorry about my outdoor photo. It was really dark out and I didn't have a tripod.)

Eventually people got a little gripe-y about the fact that the organizers were completely unprepared for the crowd size. You can bet that there will be some sternly-worded letters to state legislators today in favor of a primary election next time around.

Eventually they split the crowd into two groups and we finally ended up in a glass hallway leading to a basement room.

It was nice to be indoors, but the wait was far from over.

We had to wait to sign in, and then we were told to go to the left corner of the room if we were Obama supporters, the right side if we were Clinton supporters, and there was a tiny corner for anyone who wanted to caucus for Edwards, although the crowd was clearly not in the mood to cast symbolic votes.

I heard on the news later that about 3,000 people attended the caucus at my location, rather than the approximately 500 they were expecting. That meant that the usual caucus process was derailed considerably. Rather than putting people in their corners, counting them and reapportioning voters whose candidates' percentages were too low, we ended up standing in lines and signing pieces of notebook paper with our printed name, address, signature and the name of the candidate we supported. It might as well have been a regular primary election (albeit with a definite paper trail).

Once the final results were tallied, Obama got 73.3% of the vote in Kansas and Clinton received 25.3%. My guess is that my caucus location skewed even more heavily toward Obama. This was his line. Notice that it's not just "young people," as the news media would have you believe.

And this was Clinton's:

It was a heck of an experience, and I was exhausted when I returned home around 9 o'clock. It was great to see how energized the Democratic party has become and it's a shame that there was such a contrast with the past several elections that it almost broke the caucus process.

Comments

[Donna W]

Makes me glad I live in Missouri. I'd NEVER be willing to go through a mess like that!

[Goofy Girl]

Thanks for documenting this! I've always been amazed that a major part of our democratic system happens much like a high school dance, albeit in a church basement.

[Andy]

great recap! i'm glad we were able to keep each other company...what a wonderful experience!

[Karl]

Ugh, so glad we don't do the caucus thing in Florida. Good for you, Jane, good for you.

[Jennifer]

I applaud you for making such an effort. The only time I've encountered a long voting process like that was four years ago in the presidential election. The wait was well over 2 hours, and our polling location made the news (helicopters overhead).

It surprises me that in this particular election, poll organizers wouldn't have anticipated such a huge turnout.

But it's so heartening to see people making an effort, especially if they're voting Democrat. :-)

[Jennifer]

I applaud you for making such an effort. The only time I've encountered a long voting process like that was four years ago in the presidential election. The wait was well over 2 hours, and our polling location made the news (helicopters overhead).

It surprises me that in this particular election, poll organizers wouldn't have anticipated such a huge turnout.

But it's so heartening to see people making an effort, especially if they're voting Democrat. :-)

[MLE]

One of my coworkers here in Colorado reported a very similar experience to me this morning (Colorado has a caucus for the primary as well). Though in her case, she was told to write a "C" or an "O" and not the entire name - a friend of hers said "If I write a C, how will I know someone won't change it to an O?" The coworker reported being highly dissatisfied with the process (she's in her fifties and has been participating in caucuses for years, and says that this was the first time it was really more of a vote and not a caucus at all). Plus, the temps here last night were about 10F and she had to wait in line outside for over an hour. Brr!

[Keith]

I don't think Brits anywhere, would queue to vote.

[ByJane]

I hear a similar story on NPR today, and the woman said she was still jazzed from the experience of so much democracy on view. And she hoped it meant Kansas was going blue.

[laurie ruettimann]

This is so awesome. Our votes in Michigan don't count, and even if they did, it would be a totally lame "primary" experience.

Viva le caucus!

[laurie]

As a Canadian, I am fascinated by the American electoral process. And of course my blog friends are helping me to find out how it all works. But do tell. What's with the donkey outfit in the Clinton line? And why did none of the other commenters see fit to ask?

[Suebob]

Wow. That looks like a total zoo. I am happy I can just mail in my ballot.