Earlier today, Governor Mitt Romney won the caucuses in Nevada. One of my good friends (and ConBlog readers), Patrick Williams, was a first time caucus-goer today and detailed his experiences for us...
The Nevada Caucus: Live from Precinct 6541
Patrick Williams
Special Contributor to ConservativeBlogger.com
Being new to Nevada and living most of my adult life in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, I've never participated in a caucus so I took the opportunity, as a newly-registered voter in Nevada to do so this morning and my experience was the following.
8:30am - I pulled into my county assigned caucus center this morning at the time suggested by my candidate. I arrived at Sierra Vista High School with no idea where to go or what to do. I walked up to the high school and was greeted by fellow Mitt Romney supporters. They gave me a Mitt sticker and told me that there was no outside food or drink allowed inside. Having a Monster energy drink in my hand (and not one who likes to waste), I chugged it down. I figured that this experience would be enhanced while buzzing from caffeine. I essentially followed the flow of the crowd into what appeared to be the cafeteria (no signs were posted instructing you where to go). I went in and found the map of my neighborhood and discovered that I was in precinct 6541. I went to my assigned room after some additional confusion and getting lost.
8:40am - I got to my room and most of the supporters had stickers on that indicated which candidate they were supporting. Initially, it seemed 50/50 with half of the room being for Ron Paul and the other half going for Romney. The sole exception was the gentleman functioning as the precinct chairman who happened to be supporting John McCain. Being a collection of people from my neighborhood, I started talking to the people next to me. I mainly talked to a guy named Rocky who was originally from NJ. Rocky was also a Romney supporter and we had a chance to speak a bit and it was nice to connect with a neighbor. I notice that the Ron Paul supporters are, for the most part, together and seem to already be a functioning group (or a pack). Those Paul supporters who were not previously part of "the group" were assimilated into the collective on the spot. The Paul supporters stepped out of the room for a brief 5 to 8 minute conference.
8:55am - The precinct chair writes "7 delegates" on the board and makes some platform planks available to us. These are analogous to suggestion forms you might see in a restaurant or place of work. One would write issues on these planks which delegates would address at the party's different levels of conventions. Some people continued to filter in. Some brought their small children which drove home that this was more of a community meeting than a "drop and go" ballot process. It was good to see the people balance their family and civic obligations.
9:00am - The door is shut and the precinct chair begins to give his presentation. He lets us know that anyone can take his place if they want to run for the job. He lets us know that he has a little bit of training, but not much more than anyone else would have. The guy seems nice and harmless enough so we keep him in place and he is organized and up for the job.
9:05am - The late people come in he has to start all over again. He then tells us that we are there to do vote for delegates and conduct a "straw poll" which is the equivalent of submitting a ballot. He explains that delegates have to pay their own way to the county convention. From there, people will be selected to the state and then national delegation. Delegates to those conventions will have to pay their own way to subsequent conventions as well if they are selected to move to the next level of convention.
9:10am - He asks if people are interested in becoming delegates. Instantly, 5 Paul supporters volunteer to become candidates for delegates. Given that there was about 25-30 people in the room, I had doubts that we would get 7 volunteers as we all appeared to be "go with the flow" types of people up to this point. I felt that I had to volunteer and I was joined by other people that appeared to have the concern regarding representation. I was damned if the precinct had a Romney majority, but a Paul (or anyone else) delegation. I estimate that 13 people volunteered and there we were about up to 40 people in the room. We all gave 1 minute "speeches" as to why we should be picked and who we supported. I was 8th going after all of the Paul people and 2 Romney people. I told them that I have lived in Massachusetts with Romney as Governor, but I had not planned to run and I joined to see that the precinct was accurately represented. The others finished their 1 minute blurbs and we voted. I got the second highest amount of votes. I guess that's what happens when you take the time to meet your neighbors before such an event. :) Rocky was the first person to raise their hand for me and break the ice for the others to vote (I got 5 votes).
9:30am - When we were done, we had our 7 delegates and 5 alternates. These are non-binding delegates so we can change out vote at will, but I kept the conversation going among the delegates to represent the precinct in a responsible manner. In the end, we had 4 Romney supporters, 2 Paul supporters and 1 McCain supporter selected as delegates. At that point, we picked people to represent each candidate. Being from Massachusetts and now being a delegate, I was encouraged to go up and speak.
9:35am - I'm not sure if I did Governor Romney justice, but I recalled his success in business and having the bravery of challenging Ted Kennedy for the Senate. I pointed out that Kennedy is so arrogant that he usually doesn't bother campaigning, but found Romney to be a worthy enough opponent to have to work for that election. I also pointed out that Governor Romney helped save a disenfranchised Republican Party in the state of Massachusetts (I joked "all 5 of us") when Governors Weld and Cellucci resigned before their term was over. I, then, went on to point out his strong character and platform issues.
9:38am - Man, these Paul guys are organized! Most of them were prepared to go in and run as delegates and stump for their candidate before the caucus today. Most read from something that they had prepared beforehand or something generated from the Paul campaign machine, but I'm not sure if that seemed impressive or kooky to the others. The Paul campaign has a reputation for a cult like following and I didn't see anything to dissuade that, but I am impressed by his following even though I don't agree with him on the issues.
9:40am - The precinct chair (and sole delegate for McCain) gave the normal hero stump speech for McCain. I like this candidate more than Paul, but I do not like his immigration policies and the foreign policy that he laid out in 2000 was more radical that anything "W" has done in his 8 years for all of those war naysayers out there (which I am not one of them).
9:42am - No other candidate is represented after opening up the floor to others to see if there was any other candidate supporters in the room.
9:45am - Ballots are passed out and collected once they are completed. The ballots have no other elections or questions on them other than your Presidential vote. Unlike a primary, the ballots are counted on the spot and the results are made public. Also, the delegates and alternates are given forms to fill out. Our precinct broke down as such, 22 votes for Romney, 11 for Paul and 4 for McCain with no other candidate receiving a vote. I asked the other delegates if we were still OK with the 4/2/1 split that currently existed. The others said that they were OK, but the McCain guy reminded us that we could vote whatever way we wanted. I let him know that I was a precinct delegate first and would vote in a direction that represented the precinct. It looks like we are cool with a 4/2/1 precinct.
All in all, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. It isn't as convenient as having the polls open all day and if you missed it, you were out of luck. It is a good way to meet the neighbors and a better way to select delegates, but the caucus may be an outdated concept and not as available (duration wise) as a polling/ballot type of election.
I'll talk to you after the Republican Clark County Convention!
Many thanks to Pat for sending along his experience today!
