Caucusing is pretty boring. I showed up with Supadiscotoddler in tow, wondering if he'd allow me to actually participate in the caucus at all. After voting, Supa-T and I hung around and waited. Other caucusers (is that a word?) were milling about, chatting with each other. I was chasing Supa-T around and blocking his path to the parking lot. When the line formed, I was at the end--of course. At that point I had to hold Supa-T, and, although I am a spry 31 years old, my poor back is that of an 81-year-old woman. After about 15 minutes, Supa-T felt like he weighed 300 instead of 30 pounds. We finally made it to the sign-up sheet, and I indicated my choice. A pretty decent number of people were seated in the caucus room, so I felt no guilt about zipping out of there as soon as I was finished. I didn't know anyone there--I have no preference about who is elected as a delegate. 45 minutes of standing in line with a toddler balanced on my hip greatly diminished my excitement for the process.
I would guess that about 60 people showed up at my caucus location--a small percentage of the number of registered voters in the represented precincts, I'm sure. Whatever the results, the caucus does not represent the majority of the voters in this area. Some didn't show up out of pure laziness, of course. But a large number of people didn't show up because of work, family, or other responsibilities that kept them away. In fact, an elderly couple who did show up had to leave before indicating their preference because the man simply couldn't handle the physical strain of standing in line. It is unfair that these people's votes only partially "count." It's a bullshit practice, and it needs to be changed.
In the end, I'm glad I went. Supa-T, with the exception of a few minor outbursts, handled everything quite well. Now I'll just wait for the results with everyone else. Nighty night!
3 comments:
Thank you for this report, Supa-D. I learned two important things from you tonight:
1. Caucusing--or, at least, Texas caucusing--isn't as sexy as it sounds. (I thought there would be speeches and stuff, but it sounds, from reports on TV, that you didn't miss anything except people with calculators.)
2. Supadiscobaby has graduated to Supadiscotoddler. Hell, yes. Congrats, little man!
Excellent reporting!!!!!
I wish I were there.
Unlike Megs, I still think caucusing is sexy...But please do not comment on that fact.
Do you know of anyone who stayed through the entire process?
Sorry, Solon, but Harrogate also ducked out after signing in--due to a prior engagement. As for what happens, I overheard one of the three Obama rally-ers (?) explaining that they needed enough people to stay to fill the delegate spots.
On an unrelated note, I found it interesting that in this whitest-of-white towns, the vast majority of the voters at my polling place were African American and Latino. Also interesting was the way everyone seemed to be voting (well...caucusing) the way the media has been predicting: most of the African-American caucusers boasted Obama stickers, while most of the Latino voters work Clinton stickers. The handful of white voters were pretty much split down the middle.
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