Considering the caucus
A little slice of chaos erupted on the Capitol Hill Library's second floor this Saturday, as dozens of local residents crowded into a small room before their caucus began. By noon, we all would be frozen solid, utterly confused, and a little frustrated with our fellow voters.
Still, for those who skipped it, you missed one of the most entertaining political events I've ever attended and the messiest spectacle of democracy in action.
After spending a significant amount of my spare time reading up on the Democratic candidates and agonizing over whether I should select someone based on that worn-out concept of "electability" or on the platform that matched my personal values, I was set. The night before, my boyfriend Bryan and I had reviewed the Websites of our final contenders, trekked to Barnes and Noble to skim some biographies, and made our individual decisions. I hoped Washington would provide long-overlooked Kucinich with enough delegates to demand consideration of his ideas at the national convention.
As a longtime Capitol Hill resident, I expected a higher-than-average turnout on a day that many liberals viewed with paramount importance. Indeed, a flood of 30 and 20-somethings poured into the library along with a respectable number of older voters.
By 10:15 a.m., frantic precinct workers sent us down to the basement; people grabbed their coffee cups, Dean buttons, Kucinich stickers and Clark signs before heading toward the basement, where it was quickly realized that it was just a wide-open freezing block of concrete disguising itself as a garage.
As a couple hundred people milled around trying to find warm corners away from the gaping entrance, from which emanated a particularly unpleasant combination of frozen air and exhaust fumes, a few drivers tried to make their way through the crowd before it became too thick to maneuver. All told, it took 45 minutes to sort voters into their respective precincts before deliberations could began, which at least left us ample time to compare notes and persuade noncommittal voters.
I was excited to see the crowd, but disappointed when I found my precinct had only 21 people in attendance. This may have had something to do with the fact that the precinct apparently encompassed little more than my apartment building and another down the block, but only two other people from my building came. The trend continued in the University District, where Bryan reported that some of the student-populated precincts had paltry showings; in one case, four students from the same house comprised the entire turnout for their precinct.
Once things finally got rolling, the caucuses proved as frustrating as they were energizing. On the news Saturday night, I watched people at Ballard High School move about in orderly fashion as a party leader read the rules that would guide the entire process. In contrast, my caucus started so late that the people in charge bypassed most of the procedural steps altogether. Our precinct's captain had a rough grasp of the steps we needed to take, but we still wound up bickering over whether the 15 percent cutoff applied to both votes. Tension increased as the group's Dean supporters realized they had to contest with fans of Clark, Edwards and Kucinich. One Deaniac tried to persuade me by suggesting that it was "nice," but unrealistic to take a principled stance on a long-shot. I briefly contemplated smacking him with an attendance sheet, but instead I stole a Dean supporter when he wasn't looking, thereby providing my candidate with enough votes to land a delegate. In the end, our motley crew supplied Edwards, Clark, Dean and Kucinich with a delegate apiece.
The problem with the caucus system is that it becomes easy for knowledgeable voters to sway the undecided; people can't conceal their choice, and some feel uncomfortable defending themselves in a crowd of people who picked other candidates. Moreover, the execution of our first caucus left much to be desired -- numb hands and disorganized lines do not produce satisfied voters. Nonetheless, the event was also vibrant and exciting. I enjoyed meeting other politically active people and thought the process was worthwhile despite its overall chaos. If we can work out the kinks in the system before the next election, adopting the caucus will be a good thing. I guess you'll just have to go to find out.
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