Caucus chaos, Part 1

We already reviewed some chaotic caucuses in the paper today. (and there's some angry caucusgoers in the comments to that story).

Here's another one we received in comments to our earlier post. From R. Pringle of Bedford:
There are really no words to adequately describe the depth of disorganization I experienced while trying to participate in last night's caucus. I live in Bedford where several precincts were combined...It would seem the harried (and too few) volunteers barely understood the guidelines themselves because when we did ask for information we got conflicting instructions.

Some volunteers were telling people they could leave as soon as they signed in, others that everyone needed to stay.

Once we got to the end and the voting was done, we discovered some people had signed in and failed to choose a preferred candidate so their votes had to be thrown out. Why you ask? Because in many cases there was absolutely no instruction given once one got up to the table to vote other than "sign here".

Eventually, most of us were able to call it a night 3 and 1/2 hours later at around 10:30.

I am still not sure the delegates were ever called in because no one was sure where to call upon completion of the delegate count and I didn't have the patience or stamina to stick around any longer. This entire caucus process (more of a "non-process") is mired with flaws and the potential for error, and last night served as no better example of why it needs to be eradicated all together.

-Aman Batheja

Comments

[Susie Trevino]

I live in Krum and we had a volunteer her name Is Kay she was awsome we started at around 8:15pm and were done by 10:00pm she new what to do and if she didn't she had a lot of help no one was upset with each other or nothing it was smooth sailing for us there.

[Tarrant County Citizen]

I think the idea of the Caucus is stupid! Citizens cast their votes already and should not have been required to attend another "event" to solidify their vote. This meant taking more time away from family and other responsibilities. We submitted a ballot and that should be all that is needed.

[Kelly Allen Gray]

We had 3 precincts combined and our caucus began promptly @ 7:15p and was over by 8:30p...Our precinct chair and all of the volunteers were very well organized...It was a great experience

[annatopia]

tarrant county citizen: sorry if you think the idea of caucusing is "stupid" but let me hand you a nice big clue. the precinct conventions are the first step in party building. those who attend get the opportunity to participate in a real neighbor to eighbor democracy. they get to become delegates, participate in committees that help craft the party platform, elect officers to run the party, etc etc. the conventions are for those who realise that the health and wealth of their party depends on regular citizens taking responsibility for their government and parties.

you sit there and hate on the process. fine, then get off your butt and help change it. frankly, i'm tired of reading comments from people complaining about what happened tuesday night. ask yourselves: why did it happen. it happened because regular people stopped giving a damn. they stopped taking responsibility for their parties and in turn their government. people these days just sit back and complain about the process but they refuse to do anything. well guess what? YOU are the party. YOU are your government. if you're upset at how it works, look in the mirror. i'd say that to anyone who has nothing but complaints about tuesday.

next time, go learn how to run your caucus. it only takes ONE AFTERNOON. don't tell me you can't give up one afternoon out of 365 days in a year. i am a full time student, i work full time, i volunteered 35 hours per week for the obama campaign, AND i managed to squeeze in enough time to be the precinct chair and convention chair for 2217. i gave everything i could because i know that our county party and our government is merely a reflection of it's citizens.

think about that. if you'd given up *one afternoon*, you could've ensured your convention ran smoothyly. everyone else reading this could've done the same.

stop complaining about how things don't work as expected and get off your butts and take responsibility again. my candidate constantly reminds us that WE have to be the change we seek in our government. we can't just sit back and expect things to run smoothly. it's time we owned up to that fact.