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Democracy In Action!
Really. It was. Warning – it’s the whole nine yards here.
For those of you who are wondering why the candidates keep saying they don’t know how many delegates they got from the Texas Democratic primary, here’s how it goes. Basically 2/3 of the delegate assignment is made from people actually voting. The last one-third is partially (mostly) determined by who is back at the precinct voting station at 7:15 pm on Election Day. This is known as caucusing. Once you are signed in on a list, state your preference for a candidate who is running for national office, and they make sure you actually voted in that precinct, either at the location that day or in early voting, you can choose to leave.
Then there was a bunch of grousing, and a temporary leader with the patience of Job. She was a serene older woman in a wheelchair who over the years had done it all for the Democratic National Committee (Texas does not allow a free-for-all primary – you must vote within a registered party. You can change every election if you want, but if, say, you voted in the Democratic primary, you can’t vote in the primary run-off for the Republican candidates of so-and-so office.) This has no bearing on the fall election – you can vote across party lines in November.
Because our organizer was sitting, people had to try and cooperate when she was speaking, because she couldn’t loom over us. Then we elected a precinct leader, an eager young man with good intentions who knew nothing about Robert’s Rules of Order.
Note to Voter: Bring RRoO to next caucus.
He was also the Obama organizer, although he was doing it for the young woman who had to work but intended to be at the convention – she had to leave, since the caucus took so long. He made sure there were delegate leaders for each candidate (at this point, there were only Clinton and Obama voters present.) We told people they could choose to be delegates, or sign up as alternates. By the count, which was slightly approximately 300 for Obama and 150 for Clinton, we needed 30 Obama delegates and 13 Clinton delegates. (They round down, and there are a whole bunch of weird rules deciding on how many delegates you get.) We also had a stack of resolutions to look over and approve to send on to the state level. I started laying them out next to each other on table, so people could just walk down the rows and see them. Ultimately, we decided to send them all on, since we couldn't merge similar documents, and the county delegates could.
Note to Voter: Craft a resolution on Lyme disease for the next election year. (We're biannual; TX congress meets every other year.)
The alternates were very important, because people find they can’t get off work – they have sick children – they are suddenly sent or called out of town. Even, in the case of two people, they signed up, did not include email# or phone#, and could not be found at their homes.
I went from alternate to delegate within two days. Well, I hadn’t heard from AggieCon, and it wasn’t imperative that I go to the conference in town on a strange, offshoot disease connected to Lyme disease. Thank G-d I don’t have it, but hearing the experts would have been interesting. I would have liked to see the forensics doc who has been studying the weird samples, and both my doctor and my PA were speaking as well. But I would go to dinner with her if I finished in time, so...to the DNC county convention I go!
It was simultaneously the most enthusiastic and crazed group of people I’ve seen in a long, long time. We’re talking between 8,000 and 13,000 people descended upon the county convention center to cement down the choices of their precinct. We were supposed to sign in between 7 am and 10 am. I was tired from the previous day, and left at 7:45 am for a 15-minute drive.
At 8:30 am I was still in line on the road leading to the convention center. It would be almost another hour before I was in the main gate and seeking parking. The head of the delegation suggested the north side, but I had to park south. It was a lengthy walk, and I was very glad my feet have been improving by the week. The sack with water and brownies tore, but I caught it in time, and carried it in my arms. (Yes, they extended the deadline by two hours. You had to be in line to register by noon to be a delegate or alternate.)
Note to Voter: Next time take much lighter things to share, or don’t share.
The biggest problem after the fact that they hadn’t hired the Renfaire people to handle traffic was the lack of signs. I mean, we were looking for lines for what we needed, and finally I ran into someone I knew (and later another person -- all in different precincts) who said: “Let’s go look for any number before we get in line again.” I was on board with this. Turned out there were no numbers remotely resembling ours – South Side were alternates, and we were delegates. She plunged off into the building, a sort-of shortcut to the other side. No one stopped us or asked for identification. I was grateful the terrorists did not want to stop one tiny DNC convention in Texas from happening.
Once in line on the other side, we managed to get our precinct hanging badges promptly (and went inside to find the cord to hang them from). I called my delegate head, seeing no point in wandering aimlessly looking for her. She was in line getting her delegate chairman packet, but was able to tell me “Look up in the top bleachers on the South side. See the lime green sign over near XXX? That’s us.”
On the other side of the gym/rink/building!
Note to voter: Bring own signs to use at this event. Big ones with Big Numbers.
I did bring brownies to share, and borrowed a knife to cut up the first stacking batch. I had to use my L.L. Bean’s pocketknife to cut the other two plates of triple chocolate treats. They went down slowly but steadily over the afternoon. I shared them with both sides, some of whom were amused or leery, and others who just laughed and offered me popcorn. (Which I couldn’t eat, but I appreciated the offer.)
I’d brought a book since the head suggested that, but I did tell our secretary that I had literally read through a house catching on fire, so I would not be offended if she tapped my knee to get my attention, once the action started.
We had speakers! We had people running for other state offices and even a rep for my federal congressional district spoke. What was it about? The reoccurring theme was “Wow! We’re so glad you’re here – we’re sorry it’s so disorganized, but last year we had 1300 delegates and alternates for our county. Upping it by XXX amount has kept us in a tailspin. We even ordered portapotties!” And the other messages were “Vote for me in the X run-off” and “After it’s all over, everyone remember – the goal is a Democrat in the White House. The goal is to get as many senate and house seats as possible. So when the fussing and fighting ends, you’re all going to vote Democratic, right?” Hard to hear a few of them – the mike projection was straight out, and they were in the goal zone.
No one was selling a lot of variety in tee shirts. The young woman sitting next to me went down to get a yard sign, which were being passed out. I asked for one, too, if they’re give her two, but I had to abandon my sacks to go down, or carry them down –
Note to Voter: small paperback only, hip pouch, not purse.
So I didn’t get one. She told me she was going to frame it and hang it on her wall. I’d seen her and her darling daughter at the caucus. She signed up to be a delegate at large after all the precinct delegate biz was over. It was plain to me that she saw a black man running for president and a bunch of white folk waving signs for him as a Milestone in her life.
What finally happened? There was a voice count taken in our precinct – we knew whom the people were who really wanted to go to the state convention, and they were enthusiastic people who were wired for my candidate. So we had no problem there. The final count was going to give Obama people two delegates and two alternates, and the Clinton folk one delegate and one alternate. This mirrored our district. It was funny seeing the two group leaders with their heads together, and then saying, “Oh, that’s ten for so-and-so, right? And nine for so-and-so, etc.” The only “dirty trick” that was ever suggested was when we were being trained for what a delegate does (the downtown drive last Tuesday evening). If the other delegate group was unaware that the precinct could elect the high counts to delegates, and we could top out their delegates, we might have had three Obama delegates. But our leader said the other group was very together, and she did not expect them to be naïve, nor were we fishing to cut people loose from the other candidate group. We were just trying to get all our people who said they’d show up actually there and voting.
It was surprisingly smooth, in the end. I credit the two women heading up the groups for this. We were still able to pass around food and do our best to be hospitable Texans. I should have bought the “Yellow Dog Democrat” button I saw. (I cannot say I have never voted Republican for anything – in Texas, to get progressives, you sometimes have to vote in the Republican primary for progressive/moderate judges, for example. But I don’t see a future Republican for a Federal office in my windshield – not with the fundies controlling the party platform and the choice of delegates.) But the line for food wrapped around the auditorium, and I didn’t want to get caught in that. So I stayed put and sprinkled granola (it was SUPPOSED to be trail mix!) all over my self, to the amusement of the lady next to me.
I checked into being a delegate-at-large. That’s when they try to make sure the spread of each precinct covers every side at the state convention. If they needed another Clinton delegate in Precinct 123, for example, to represent the people who voted but didn’t caucus, they’d take volunteers from delegates not representing their own precinct.
They did warn us that white ladies were in abundance, so I didn't expect to be selected. My fellow delegate, who identified black, went to register. There was a blank for disabled, and I asked if that was federally defined or not. The man passing out the forms sad “Yes” (which could have been true or just his momentary guess) so I did not fill out a form and went to look for my car.
I was impressed – I remembered it was the south side, and that I had come back to the south side! I walked up and down rows looking for my bumper stickers. I finally triangulated, comparing the angles of buildings and smaller buildings in front of my view, and discovered I was even farther than I remembered. This was an improvement on the people who actually were totally off the property and way down the road. I admired them all – it would have been so easy to blow it off and turn around. They didn’t.
Didn’t have to sit for long; headed south instead of north. Too late for the conference, but I waited a while at the dinner place until I’d decided they’d changed the venue. (They did – my PA was embarrassed and apologetic.) But I read more of the new Earlene Fowler TUMBLING BLOCKS, so I didn’t mind.
I was tired enough I think I watched some TV and finished my book after eating a bit – W went to the dance to practice.
And that, my friends, is what happened at our county convention. The organizers did their best, there was usually toilet paper, and only a couple requests for a doctor in the house. (Lots of elderly delegates, and folk young enough to jump around and miss their footing.)
I might get invited to AggieCon next year, so don’t plan to be a delegate, but from now on, I’m back to the caucuses. They finally make some kind of sense.
Hope this post makes sense. Feel free to ask, if I jumped over a creek and left you behind!
For those of you who are wondering why the candidates keep saying they don’t know how many delegates they got from the Texas Democratic primary, here’s how it goes. Basically 2/3 of the delegate assignment is made from people actually voting. The last one-third is partially (mostly) determined by who is back at the precinct voting station at 7:15 pm on Election Day. This is known as caucusing. Once you are signed in on a list, state your preference for a candidate who is running for national office, and they make sure you actually voted in that precinct, either at the location that day or in early voting, you can choose to leave.
Then there was a bunch of grousing, and a temporary leader with the patience of Job. She was a serene older woman in a wheelchair who over the years had done it all for the Democratic National Committee (Texas does not allow a free-for-all primary – you must vote within a registered party. You can change every election if you want, but if, say, you voted in the Democratic primary, you can’t vote in the primary run-off for the Republican candidates of so-and-so office.) This has no bearing on the fall election – you can vote across party lines in November.
Because our organizer was sitting, people had to try and cooperate when she was speaking, because she couldn’t loom over us. Then we elected a precinct leader, an eager young man with good intentions who knew nothing about Robert’s Rules of Order.
Note to Voter: Bring RRoO to next caucus.
He was also the Obama organizer, although he was doing it for the young woman who had to work but intended to be at the convention – she had to leave, since the caucus took so long. He made sure there were delegate leaders for each candidate (at this point, there were only Clinton and Obama voters present.) We told people they could choose to be delegates, or sign up as alternates. By the count, which was slightly approximately 300 for Obama and 150 for Clinton, we needed 30 Obama delegates and 13 Clinton delegates. (They round down, and there are a whole bunch of weird rules deciding on how many delegates you get.) We also had a stack of resolutions to look over and approve to send on to the state level. I started laying them out next to each other on table, so people could just walk down the rows and see them. Ultimately, we decided to send them all on, since we couldn't merge similar documents, and the county delegates could.
Note to Voter: Craft a resolution on Lyme disease for the next election year. (We're biannual; TX congress meets every other year.)
The alternates were very important, because people find they can’t get off work – they have sick children – they are suddenly sent or called out of town. Even, in the case of two people, they signed up, did not include email# or phone#, and could not be found at their homes.
I went from alternate to delegate within two days. Well, I hadn’t heard from AggieCon, and it wasn’t imperative that I go to the conference in town on a strange, offshoot disease connected to Lyme disease. Thank G-d I don’t have it, but hearing the experts would have been interesting. I would have liked to see the forensics doc who has been studying the weird samples, and both my doctor and my PA were speaking as well. But I would go to dinner with her if I finished in time, so...to the DNC county convention I go!
It was simultaneously the most enthusiastic and crazed group of people I’ve seen in a long, long time. We’re talking between 8,000 and 13,000 people descended upon the county convention center to cement down the choices of their precinct. We were supposed to sign in between 7 am and 10 am. I was tired from the previous day, and left at 7:45 am for a 15-minute drive.
At 8:30 am I was still in line on the road leading to the convention center. It would be almost another hour before I was in the main gate and seeking parking. The head of the delegation suggested the north side, but I had to park south. It was a lengthy walk, and I was very glad my feet have been improving by the week. The sack with water and brownies tore, but I caught it in time, and carried it in my arms. (Yes, they extended the deadline by two hours. You had to be in line to register by noon to be a delegate or alternate.)
Note to Voter: Next time take much lighter things to share, or don’t share.
The biggest problem after the fact that they hadn’t hired the Renfaire people to handle traffic was the lack of signs. I mean, we were looking for lines for what we needed, and finally I ran into someone I knew (and later another person -- all in different precincts) who said: “Let’s go look for any number before we get in line again.” I was on board with this. Turned out there were no numbers remotely resembling ours – South Side were alternates, and we were delegates. She plunged off into the building, a sort-of shortcut to the other side. No one stopped us or asked for identification. I was grateful the terrorists did not want to stop one tiny DNC convention in Texas from happening.
Once in line on the other side, we managed to get our precinct hanging badges promptly (and went inside to find the cord to hang them from). I called my delegate head, seeing no point in wandering aimlessly looking for her. She was in line getting her delegate chairman packet, but was able to tell me “Look up in the top bleachers on the South side. See the lime green sign over near XXX? That’s us.”
On the other side of the gym/rink/building!
Note to voter: Bring own signs to use at this event. Big ones with Big Numbers.
I did bring brownies to share, and borrowed a knife to cut up the first stacking batch. I had to use my L.L. Bean’s pocketknife to cut the other two plates of triple chocolate treats. They went down slowly but steadily over the afternoon. I shared them with both sides, some of whom were amused or leery, and others who just laughed and offered me popcorn. (Which I couldn’t eat, but I appreciated the offer.)
I’d brought a book since the head suggested that, but I did tell our secretary that I had literally read through a house catching on fire, so I would not be offended if she tapped my knee to get my attention, once the action started.
We had speakers! We had people running for other state offices and even a rep for my federal congressional district spoke. What was it about? The reoccurring theme was “Wow! We’re so glad you’re here – we’re sorry it’s so disorganized, but last year we had 1300 delegates and alternates for our county. Upping it by XXX amount has kept us in a tailspin. We even ordered portapotties!” And the other messages were “Vote for me in the X run-off” and “After it’s all over, everyone remember – the goal is a Democrat in the White House. The goal is to get as many senate and house seats as possible. So when the fussing and fighting ends, you’re all going to vote Democratic, right?” Hard to hear a few of them – the mike projection was straight out, and they were in the goal zone.
No one was selling a lot of variety in tee shirts. The young woman sitting next to me went down to get a yard sign, which were being passed out. I asked for one, too, if they’re give her two, but I had to abandon my sacks to go down, or carry them down –
Note to Voter: small paperback only, hip pouch, not purse.
So I didn’t get one. She told me she was going to frame it and hang it on her wall. I’d seen her and her darling daughter at the caucus. She signed up to be a delegate at large after all the precinct delegate biz was over. It was plain to me that she saw a black man running for president and a bunch of white folk waving signs for him as a Milestone in her life.
What finally happened? There was a voice count taken in our precinct – we knew whom the people were who really wanted to go to the state convention, and they were enthusiastic people who were wired for my candidate. So we had no problem there. The final count was going to give Obama people two delegates and two alternates, and the Clinton folk one delegate and one alternate. This mirrored our district. It was funny seeing the two group leaders with their heads together, and then saying, “Oh, that’s ten for so-and-so, right? And nine for so-and-so, etc.” The only “dirty trick” that was ever suggested was when we were being trained for what a delegate does (the downtown drive last Tuesday evening). If the other delegate group was unaware that the precinct could elect the high counts to delegates, and we could top out their delegates, we might have had three Obama delegates. But our leader said the other group was very together, and she did not expect them to be naïve, nor were we fishing to cut people loose from the other candidate group. We were just trying to get all our people who said they’d show up actually there and voting.
It was surprisingly smooth, in the end. I credit the two women heading up the groups for this. We were still able to pass around food and do our best to be hospitable Texans. I should have bought the “Yellow Dog Democrat” button I saw. (I cannot say I have never voted Republican for anything – in Texas, to get progressives, you sometimes have to vote in the Republican primary for progressive/moderate judges, for example. But I don’t see a future Republican for a Federal office in my windshield – not with the fundies controlling the party platform and the choice of delegates.) But the line for food wrapped around the auditorium, and I didn’t want to get caught in that. So I stayed put and sprinkled granola (it was SUPPOSED to be trail mix!) all over my self, to the amusement of the lady next to me.
I checked into being a delegate-at-large. That’s when they try to make sure the spread of each precinct covers every side at the state convention. If they needed another Clinton delegate in Precinct 123, for example, to represent the people who voted but didn’t caucus, they’d take volunteers from delegates not representing their own precinct.
They did warn us that white ladies were in abundance, so I didn't expect to be selected. My fellow delegate, who identified black, went to register. There was a blank for disabled, and I asked if that was federally defined or not. The man passing out the forms sad “Yes” (which could have been true or just his momentary guess) so I did not fill out a form and went to look for my car.
I was impressed – I remembered it was the south side, and that I had come back to the south side! I walked up and down rows looking for my bumper stickers. I finally triangulated, comparing the angles of buildings and smaller buildings in front of my view, and discovered I was even farther than I remembered. This was an improvement on the people who actually were totally off the property and way down the road. I admired them all – it would have been so easy to blow it off and turn around. They didn’t.
Didn’t have to sit for long; headed south instead of north. Too late for the conference, but I waited a while at the dinner place until I’d decided they’d changed the venue. (They did – my PA was embarrassed and apologetic.) But I read more of the new Earlene Fowler TUMBLING BLOCKS, so I didn’t mind.
I was tired enough I think I watched some TV and finished my book after eating a bit – W went to the dance to practice.
And that, my friends, is what happened at our county convention. The organizers did their best, there was usually toilet paper, and only a couple requests for a doctor in the house. (Lots of elderly delegates, and folk young enough to jump around and miss their footing.)
I might get invited to AggieCon next year, so don’t plan to be a delegate, but from now on, I’m back to the caucuses. They finally make some kind of sense.
Hope this post makes sense. Feel free to ask, if I jumped over a creek and left you behind!
no subject
I confess --
That was a lot of work
Re: That was a lot of work
I was very proud of all those nutty people. Even the schemers ended up advancing democracy. I'd heard about a few weird things at precincts (apparently a couple of them we not telling the delegates where the convention was -- have no idea if it's true, and whose fault -- old time yellow dogs Democrats who didn't want anyone else at the table? One or both candidates' followers getting out of hand? Republicans trying to sabotage Democratic primary results?)
Someone will probably write a book someday, and then we'll know what we couldn't see, being in the midst of things.
And really, neither candidate remaining is an angel -- not if Obama wasn't as courteous with Edwards as he could have been. (Again -- real story? How can we know?)