Comments on: Washington State Caucus Primer

By: Paulette

Paulette — Thu, 29 May 2008 20:12:33 +0000

I feel that the Caucuse system does not work to the best of all voters. If the total count of actual attendee were known, vs the number of registered voters who were “able” to attend, this is a very small number. I feel that we should join the majority of states and each vote counts, not just those who are able to attend in person.

By: The Seattle Traveler Top Posts for February 2008

The Seattle Traveler Top Posts for February 2008 — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 11:58:25 +0000

[...] Washington State Caucus Primer. With all the election talk going on, this came as no real surprise. What did come as a surprise, though, is how quickly a post that I wrote as a very simple outline of the process turned into a bit of a fracas about the validity of the caucus system. [...]

By: Mary Angela

Mary Angela — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 03:20:33 +0000

Someone’s made a flowchart of the state caucus system (at least for the East side).

http://fwosty.com/blog/?p=55

By: Washington State has a Presidential Primary, Too

Washington State has a Presidential Primary, Too — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 18:31:27 +0000

[...] that’s right. Even though you learned all about our long-standing caucus system, found out where your caucus was, and made it there to caucus and vote, there’s still another [...]

By: David

David — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 17:14:36 +0000

Hi NMCB–

I’m sorry to hear that you have been frustrated. For the Democratic caucuses, there was a Surrogate Affidavit Form that your wife could have filled out and turned in ahead of time so that her presidential preference would have counted at the caucus. Military duty is one of the three categories (the others being disability and religious observance) that qualified for the surrogate form.

I agree that there were many ways the whole process could have been better publicized and explained. I hope your wife will still vote in the primary– it won’t award Democratic delegates, but it will express the will of the people of the state, which could be taken into account by the decisionmakers if we get to convention without a clear winner.

By: NMCB

NMCB — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 07:23:47 +0000

Thanks for this discussion. Have to say that it was pretty upsetting to figure out primaries vs caucus in WA State. My wife is on active duty in the military and is a WA resident but is not currently there. So the caucus system basically excludes her, and by the Dems choosing not to use the results of the primary makes her voting useless. We’re all for public debate and informed selection of candidates, but this is simply lame in our case.

By: Teresa

Teresa — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 06:45:30 +0000

Pamela and others concerned about the Muslin
religion, which is way blown up.

Here is a pdf file on Obama’s faith
http://www.barackobama.com/factcheck/2007/11/12/obama_is_a_committed_christian.php

Here is a pdf file on his patriotism

http://www.barackobama.com/factcheck/2007/11/12/obama_is_a_patriot.php

By: S Burroughs

S Burroughs — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 23:23:07 +0000

re: Lisa W – thank you for your note, it’s nice to read something positive online.

And for the others who make ill-intended false claims about Obama and are afraid of Muslims: Are you afraid of Muslims? Or are you really afraid of Muslim extremists or fundamentalists? If Barack Obama was or is a practicing Muslim, would you trust him less bases solely on that? Open your minds to cultural differences in our country. Prejudice is still a dirty word in many circles, and thank God for that.

By: Paula

Paula — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 22:19:48 +0000

Not being from WA originally, I do not understand what the purpose of my democratic vote in the primary matters. Being disabled and unable to attend a caucus, it seems that my vote doesn’t count for crap. I have never heard of such a thing. This is the first time I have been fired up enough to vote in years, yet now I feel, what was the purpose of mailing in my vote but the waste of a stamp? I had already sent in my vote before reading the crazy nonsense.

By: David

David — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 07:55:50 +0000

Joe @ 1056: Your participation (or not) in the caucus has absolutely no effect on how you are “allowed” to vote in the general election.

However, if you participated today in the Democratic caucus, you are expected to not vote in the Republican *primary* in 10 days… and vice versa, if you participated in the Republican caucus.

Your November vote is completely up to you, and you can even cross parties– there’s nothing that says you can’t vote in the *general* election for a Democrat in one race and a Republican in another.

The *primary* process (including the caucus and the primary election) requires you to stay within a single party, and potentially one could be prosecuted for crossing sides– or at least ridiculed in the news media.