Hey to my fellow Nevadans! Did you caucus this morning? I attended my designated caucus to vote for the man I want to be the Republican candidate for president. This was the first year that Nevada has held a caucus, or so I thought. Actually, I just found out that Nevada has held caucuses for years, but they have never been publicized or marketed to the residents in a wide-spread fashion. If you wanted to participate in the caucus you had to go to city hall. I only know this because my dad just told me about it based on what he learned from a representative of the Republican party who was responsible for organizing the caucus today. 2008 was the first year that the caucuses were brought to the people in neighborhood precincts. We found out that caucuses usually have about a 1% voter turnout, and precincts in our area were seeing a 10-15 turnout!
I was educated today on the way a caucus works and what purpose it serves. When you go to a caucus, you congregate with others in your neighborhood who are of the same political party. You elect someone to chair your precinct's caucus (that ended up being my dad - which is no surprise if you know him at all!). Then you discuss political issues that concern you, listen to representatives of each candidate, and elect delegates based on a percentage of the people in your precinct who will represent your precinct at a county convention in February. Our precinct elected 11 delegates & Brad is going to be one of them. I told him that was a good way of getting out of working on a Saturday during tax season!
The caucus didn't last longer than about 45 minutes, and it was kind of fun to rally together as neighbors. I am not very involved politically at this time in my life, and I honestly would rather head to the mall & cast my vote early, but it is an American privilege to take part in a peaceful election. Dear friend Lesli pointed out a few weeks ago how blessed we are to take part in a peaceful political process because it is not that way everywhere in the world. Kenya is close to Lesli's heart, and not that long ago, she was in a peaceful Nairobi, enjoying the beauty found there. Sadly, because of elections, it is now a violent and tormented place to be. So - even though everything in America isn't perfect, and even though most of us have unique agendas and opinions and don't agree on any given day, we can disagree and not fear for our lives in the process. I never want to take my American citizenship or the privilege to vote for granted.
Everett Andrew Duncan, Jr. 9/26/1958-01/02/2015
9 years ago
6 comments:
it is just too bad the caucus was so full of fraud and underhandedness here in Nevada on the Democratic side. I am very disappointed in my site and those who were supposed to be 'the impartial registration desk' leaders. Many supporters of my candidate were not allowed to sign in and some were even turned away! I was the precinct captain for my candidate and I had the 'other' supporters for the 'other' candidate in my face and not allowing some to cast the ballot. We had to call an attorney to straighten them out and almost had to call the police. It was bad.
It was an unfair process all the way around - now for me, if the 2 winners of the NV caucus end up on the ballot, I might feel like moving to Canada! Our country needs a major overhaul and I'm not sure that it will happen with 'status quo as usual' folks in charge.
I'm glad your site was organized and run correctly, from what you wrote.
This is a great post, LaRae. I didn't know until this year, either, what a caucus really was. I'm looking forward to it. I like how you pointed out that we have the privilege of participating in peaceful elections. Remember when we didn't know for a couple of weeks if our president was Gore or Bush? No fighting in the streets, no coups or overthrows ... that would have thrown some other countries into chaos.
The California caucus in 2/5 and it's the first time I will be participating.
thanks lzw. ditto.
Heh, I wrote a big rant about the evils of computerized voting machines, then erased it. I still think they are evil, but in the end, being able to say so, and to maybe have some hope of doing something about it, is pretty lucky. You don't have to look to far in the world, or to far back in our American history, to see what it's like when things are really bad.
I, too, enjoyed the caucus in our precinct. It was a very educational experience and kind of fun. Jeff and I will be delegates to the County Republican Convention too. Maybe we'll see Brad there...somewhere...in the crowd...
I think so many of us have no idea how our own system works...I didn't anyway!! Thanks for the heads up! I look forward to our turn to cast my vote here in Utah.
Post a Comment