Democratic caucuses and primaries

SuburbanTurkey said:
May 2020 be the death knell of caucuses.

There is simply no benefit of this system sufficient enough to overwhelm massive downsides of a caucus.

Ranked choice voting can accomplish everything a caucus can with a fraction of the difficulty to implement.
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Caucuses help political parties organize and make decisions at the local and state levels. The precinct leaders elected at the caucus help represent the precinct between elections. The delegates elected at precinct caucuses nominate candidates for local office at the county conventions. Delegates to state conventions nominate candidates for state offices.
 
Kestrel said:
Caucuses help political parties organize and make decisions at the local and state levels. The precinct leaders elected at the caucus help represent the precinct between elections. The delegates elected at precinct caucuses nominate candidates for local office at the county conventions. Delegates to state conventions nominate candidates for state offices.
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Not to mention that these days, the primaries look much like caucuses, with the 15% viability hurdle.
 
Meanwhile, Bernie is way ahead of the pack in Nevada, largely on his overwhelming support among younger voters and Latinos:

Senator Bernie Sanders has a commanding nineteen point in the Nevada caucus, with 35 percent of likely caucusgoers supporting him. He is followed by Senator Elizabeth Warren, former Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Former Vice President Joe Biden who are all tightly clustered at 16, 15 and 14 percentage points, respectively.
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Bernie’s base of support is found both among voters under 45 and Hispanic voters. Among voters under 45, he holds a 50 point lead over Warren who sits in second place with 14 percent. Meanwhile, 66 percent of Hispanic likely caucusgoers back Sanders, with the rest of the field accounting for the remaining 34 percentage points.
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Seriously, 64% of voters under 45, plus 66% of Hispanics? I am this close (thumb and index finger a half-inch apart) from calling the race for Bernie.
 
Brainster said:
Not to mention that these days, the primaries look much like caucuses, with the 15% viability hurdle.
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The same delegate allocation rules apply at the district and state level in primary and caucus states. The difference is that in a caucus state they apply at the precinct and county level.

The number of delegates is based on the number of Democratic votes from that state or district in prior general elections. Turnout for the primary of caucus doesn’t alter the number of delegates. This is the real reason that Bernie didn’t end up with the most delegates despite having a plurality in Iowa.
 
My brother-in-law got back from voting in the NV caucus last night; several hours in line to cast a ranked-choice ballot.

I'm predicting something of a clusterfuffle when state election authorities attempt to combine RCV with live caucusing in real time while the nation looks on.
 
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Belz... said:
Hours in line to vote.

And some Americans claim that they have the best democracy and the most freedom.
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It's frustrating because this is 100% a solved problem. I vote in Mass and I'll spend more time parking my car and walking to the city hall than I will waiting to vote.

There are plenty of states that can run a smooth election that is accessible to everyone who wants to vote. The problem is that some states choose to run their elections poorly.
 
Distracted1 said:
Keep in mind that these are primaries, Not Constitutionally mandated elections. They are not even necessary if a Party deems it prudent to select its' candidate through other means.
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On the other hand, it is the state government that implements elections, even primaries. You'd think they'd be able to manage a primary, given that they have to manage actual constitutionally mandated elections.

On the other other hand, you might think that the state government isn't going to go all out for a party primary, the same way they might to ensure a constitutionally-mandated election, and you might think that's as it should be.

Maybe the right answer is for states to get out of the primary election business. I doubt it, though.
 
SuburbanTurkey said:
It's frustrating because this is 100% a solved problem. I vote in Mass and I'll spend more time parking my car and walking to the city hall than I will waiting to vote.

There are plenty of states that can run a smooth election that is accessible to everyone who wants to vote. The problem is that some states choose to run their elections poorly.
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Yea, I know Distracted1 has pointed out that it's not the actual election, but we've heard a lot of stories of long wait times in the elections also.

Here in Quebec when I go to vote it rarely takes more than 5 minutes.
 
Belz... said:
Yea, I know Distracted1 has pointed out that it's not the actual election, but we've heard a lot of stories of long wait times in the elections also.
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I'd like to point out that the primaries are (1) my only chance to influence the presidential selection process, as a bluish fish in a very red state & (2) run by the state itself, using the same polling places and similar processes.
 
Primaries/Caucuses serve very different functions from the general election.

Treating one as a test run for the other; either practically or ideologically, is very dangerous.
 
JoeMorgue said:
Primaries/Caucuses serve very different functions from the general election.
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They are both contests by which a field of several people eligible to serve in some specific position are electorally narrowed down to just one.

In very blue and very red districts, the primary phase is often the determinative one, e.g. New York's 14th congressional districtWP.
 
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Belz... said:
Yea, I know Distracted1 has pointed out that it's not the actual election, but we've heard a lot of stories of long wait times in the elections also.

Here in Quebec when I go to vote it rarely takes more than 5 minutes.
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And you get a free poutine when you do.

You do have to watch out for roving gangs of moose, all drugged up on Labatts 50 though. They can cause a lot of problems on voting day.
 
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Belz... said:
You do have to watch out for roving gangs of moose, all drugged up on Labatts 50 though. They can cause a lot of problems on voting day.
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We do have towns here, mate. Moose are for the highways.
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Yeah you would think that would matter. Turns out it doesn't....

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/moose-highway-417-nepean-1.4752850
Highway 417 in west Ottawa is open again after a wayward moose forced its closure in both directions during Thursday morning rush hour.

(The 417 is the major roadway that runs through the city of Ottawa, and brings traffic right to the downtown core. Not exactly a rural area.)

They're coming for you... Be afraid, be very afraid.
 
Segnosaur said:
Yeah you would think that would matter. Turns out it doesn't....

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/moose-highway-417-nepean-1.4752850
Highway 417 in west Ottawa is open again after a wayward moose forced its closure in both directions during Thursday morning rush hour.

(The 417 is the major roadway that runs through the city of Ottawa, and brings traffic right to the downtown core. Not exactly a rural area.)

They're coming for you... Be afraid, be very afraid.
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Yeah but that's Ontario. What do you expect?
 
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