The Answers to All of Your Caucus Questions!

You knew all the fun had to end eventually, right? I wonder if the national parties (in collusion with the cable news networks) decided to move the first primary or caucus back to April, what the candidates would do? Could they possibly keep up this pace for another three months?

Assuming the caucus dates will not be moved (to the chagrin of some establishment types that need more time to buy this thing), we still have so many unanswered questions: Will Rick Santorum wear his patented sweater vest without sleeves once it gets warmer? How many pairs of fancy boots does Mr. Rubio own? Is there anyway to distract Bernie from discussing income inequality?

If only we had more time!

Whether you are all aboard the Trump-train, feeling the Bern, "in" with Hillary, or part of the CruzCrew, you have likely heard all you need and are ready to declare that all import vote in the primary process. Now the only remaining issue is: How?

Below is a composite of most Frequently Asked Questions about the caucus process:

 

When and Where is the Nevada Caucus?

For some reason, (I have a guess but it is not appropriate to speculate), the two political parties host their caucuses on different days:

The Democrats: 20 February 2016, Saturday. Registration starts at 11am, the doors close at 12 Noon. They claim that if you are not at your caucus location by 12 Noon, they may not let you in.¹⁾if you call their bluff, let me know by email what happened! brian@clearcounsel.com. Find your caucus location here.

The Republicans: 23 February 2016. Tuesday night. You have to register Republican by 13 February to participate. If you do not register by 13 February, you will not be permitted to attend (There is a link below to help). Find your caucus location here. (You need to register to vote first).

 

What are the Requirements to Caucus?

Here in Nevada, the state government only administers general elections. The Democratic and Republican Caucuses are administered by their respective party. In turn, the rules are entirely determined by the state parties.

You must abide by the following necessary conditions to participate in the Nevada Caucus:

1. You must be 18 years old by the date of the Presidential Election on November 8, 2016. Yes, this means, a high school senior (that is currently 17) that will be 18 years old by November may (and in fact, is very much encouraged) join his or her caucus meeting.
2. You must be a Resident of the state of Nevada.
3. You must register as a Democrat or Republican (we do not have a so-called "open primary" where folks of any party may vote in any primary). Does this mean that you have to vote for the same party that you caucus for? No! Don't let them tell you otherwise.

Important note for registration: If you are a democrat, you may register at the caucus site on the day of the meeting. If you are a republican, you have to register to vote by February 13, 2016. You may do so here.

Once more, because it is important, if you intend to caucus for a Republican, you must be registered to vote 10 days before the Caucus! Just click the link above, and so long as you have government-issued ID, you will be able to register to vote online.

 

What Happens at the Caucus Once You Arrive?

Upon arrival at your caucus site, you will register with the nice folks that will have a table near the door. Next, head over to your Presidential Preference Group if you already have a candidate in mind that you want to manifest a preference to support. If you have not made a decision yet, that's ok! There will be a grouping of folks for "undecided."

Important note: Standing²⁾or sitting with an initial group does not lock in your support for that candidate. You will have another chance to change your mind!

Next, (once everyone has arrived and sectioned off into their beginning preference) the Chair of your meeting will likely read/make statements from Nevada elected officials/party leaders.

After which, each campaign represented will be invited to speak on behalf of their candidate to persuade others in the room to help support their candidate.

Yet another important note: You do not have to do any public speaking if you do not want to! Folks volunteer for this responsibility; at the same time, the speaking gig is not assigned by the campaigns. The folks in your preference group will decide whom will speak for the whole.

After the speeches, there will be a fixed time for "persuasion." Now comes the fun part! At this point in the process, folks supporting any candidate may try to persuade other people to come join their preference group. Don't worry, no one is going to bully you/make you support any candidate. Better to think of this as the civil, community meeting portion of the event. After the persuasion period, folks head back to their preference groups and the total number of folks preferring each candidate will be calculated.

That's it. Does it take a little more time than voting in a booth? Sure. But this is so much more memorable and fun (and you can play on your phone the whole time if you want).

 

What Caucus Rules Do You Need to Know?

Viability, mostly.³⁾Your precinct chair will read the rules to the caucus when you get there

Because the democrats and republicans will administer there own caucuses, they make their own rules. Better yet, the each caucus is different from the other.

Let's start with the Democrats (because they go first).

The proceeding text comes from the 2008 Democrats Caucus guide, and the Nevada Democratic Party has confirmed⁴⁾through their spokesman Stewart Boss that these viability demarcations will be used in 2016 as well:

Caucus Viability Formulas Caucuses which elect Viable groups must contain 25% of Two (2) delegates attendees (# eligible attendees × .25).

Caucuses which elect Viable groups must contain 1/6th of Three (3) delegates attendees (# eligible attendees ÷ 6).

Caucuses which elect Viable groups must contain 15% of Four (4) or more delegates attendees (# eligible attendees × .15).

Always Round all fractions UP to a whole number when determining viability (e.g. If 1.1 Round to 2 --- If 1.8 Round to 2)

 

Did your eyes just glaze over? Stay with me here, I can easily summarize. If you live in the Las Vegas Valley, it is most likely you will be at a caucus with four or more delegates (The orange line). What you need to know is that the Democrats do not count preferences for a candidate unless s/he has a sufficient level of support, a la at least 15% of the total number of people present. 

Insider tip: Folks who really care about winning for his/her candidate should start counting participants as soon as the doors are closed to figure out the 15% threshold. For example, if you are (if not all in, but at least partly) "In for Hillary," and you count a total of 100 people at your caucus location, you will know that a candidate must have at least 15 folks in his/her corner to earn anything.

Continuing the hypothetical, if said Hillary supporter saw only 12 people standing on the side of the room to support Gov. O'Malley, it makes sense to make a beeline toward them once the persuasion period begins⁵⁾With a pitch like, "given that you don't have enough supporters present, don't you want your vote to count?"

I don't have anything against Mr. O'Malley⁶⁾minus what happened in Baltimore under his tenure, but it unlikely, given his poll numbers, that he will be viable at the Nevada (or Iowa) Caucus. Some polls have Mr. O'Malley as high as 6%, which leaves many a 2nd-choice voter to be recruited for the Bernie/Hillary campaigns. How funny would it be for O'Malley supporters to be the ones to determine the Caucus outcome⁷⁾By the way, this happened in Iowa in 2008. Many Edwards preference groups did not meet the viability threshold. If those folks' 2nd choice had been Hillary Clinton instead of Barack Obama, the entire course of human history could be different!⁸⁾There is no chance Mr. Obama is elected if he did not win Iowa...he has admitted as much.

 

The Republicans

For our Republican friends, don't worry, none of this viability silliness applies. One person representing each campaign will give a public statement, and then each person will vote for his/her preferred candidate on a paper ballot. All Republican votes will be counted as there is no viability threshold.

If you are still concerned about the process/have questions, please do not hesitate to call (ask for Brian) or email, and I will do everything I can to help. We are Clear Counsel are not making an endorsement for the primary season, but we all strongly believe in representative democracy, and therefore, will help anyone of any party.

Even if you are still unsure about the caucus and don't have time to call/write, just show up! I promise you will be able to figure it out; we all are Americans after all.

Thanks for reading.

More information:

http://nvsos.gov/index.aspx?page=1058

 

http://www.rgj.com/story/news/politics/2016/01/21/confused-nevada-caucus-s-easier-than-you-think/79086178/