My Utah caucus

Hubby and I went to our caucus tonight. I didn't get off work until about 6:15; traffic was crazy and we had to park several blocks away so we didn't get there until almost 7. The line snaked through the parking lot and down the street a bit, but the line moved pretty fast.

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They were handing out ballots to everyone in line and passing pens around. I waited until we got inside to fill mine out as I had nothing to write on and my hands were cold.

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We had to fill out our name and address on the ballot for it to count. Can they do that??

Anyway, I only saw a couple of Hillary signs on the doors, and no Bernie signs to be seen anywhere.

It was much different than the caucus I went to in 2008 in Minnesota. There we all went to our respective rooms for our precincts right away. And we had anonymous ballots.
Here, many people voted and left, which was why the line moved so fast. The small gym/auditorium didn't hold many people; there were tables for each precinct inside and in the hallways, which was confusing. The main caucus meeting was in the small gym/auditorium, and then we all went to our precinct tables.

Nobody showed up for our precinct. Our precinct allowed one delegate, and the county convention is April 9, which is when we have to be out of our apartment. If we weren't moving for the next two years hubby and I could have both been officials for our precinct, but since we're moving in a couple of weeks we couldn't do anything, so that sucks. Sad But the good news is Hillary won't steal our delegate either (hopefully).

(Sorry if some of the formatting is a bit wonky. I don't know yet how to fix it.)

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ppnortney's picture

It would be nice it the United States of freaking America actually acted like it believed in democracy, this sounds like an unholy mess. Hope you're moving to a state where they have their act together a bit better.

And BTW, good luck with the move!

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The smaller the mind the greater the conceit. --Aesop

Daenerys's picture

Thanks; unfortunately we're just moving across town, into my MIL's house. We want to move back to MN, but that won't be for another 2-3 years once hubby finishes his degree.

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This shit is bananas.

GreyWolf's picture

Bummer

ballot 02.jpg

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Daenerys's picture

How did you fix the photo?

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This shit is bananas.

GreyWolf's picture

called Seashore

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Daenerys's picture

I just forgot to flip it before I uploaded it. Derp.

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This shit is bananas.

Unabashed Liberal's picture

you Guys made the caucus.

Huge crowds--fantastic.

Hey, good question--how did GreyWolf fix the photo?

Screenshot and edit tools? Dunno.

But I do know 'who' to look up for help with visuals, from now on.

Wink

(Music City) Mollie, C99P & DKos
elinkarlsson@WordPress


"Every time I lose a dog, he takes a piece of my heart. Every new dog gifts me with a piece of his. Someday, my heart will be total dog, and maybe then I will be just as generous, loving, and forgiving."--Author Unknown
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Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.

snoopydawg's picture

Our place was busy and just as I got there it started hailing hard. Since I was afraid it might be Ivey since it had snowed earlier, I took my cane with me.
A lady that was helping run it saw me and took me to the handicap line and it only took 15 minutes.
They recently changed the voting to a caucus this year I think.
I was very ill during the mid term and didn't vote. And I didn't get an absentee ballot that year.
I hope people make a big stink about this and we go back to voting instead of the caucus system. People were confused.

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

Daenerys's picture

A lot of my coworkers were talking about going tonight, but I didn't see anybody I knew there.

I wish they would do voting online, or mail. It would also help people with social anxiety that hate crowds.

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This shit is bananas.

but damn if it wasn't cold with the wind.
Showed up at 6:20 and walked a couple blocks to Silver Crest Elementary in Herriman and got into a long line
To top it all off...I left my coat at home because, I don't know, figured I would walk right in. Yeah right.
Finally made my way inside and holee crap! A serpentine line that seemed to go on forever.
After they made some announcements and moved us around somewhat into something resembling order, I stood in line another 15 minutes or so and voted. Several tables, a small collection of pens, and people everywhere filling out the ballots.
Total time: Almost 1 hour.
I was one of the lucky. I heard others waited 2 hours to vote.
There has got to be a better way.

P.S Hiya all. Another Dkos member joining the ranks here. Thanks snoopy for directing me here. Neat place you guys have here.

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Shahryar's picture

hope it holds. Need wins as much as delegates.

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Shahryar's picture

it would be nice if he could get closer but staying even, winning two states of the three, is ok-ish. He's up in delegates in Utah but there are more to be awarded. In Arizona too.

There are 131 delegates at stake. Hills is currently ahead 45-34. That means 52 more are up for grabs. I was entertaining myself on Facebook, chatting with Poligirl, trying to do some math in my head. if Bernie can win 32 of those 52 (19 in Arizona, the rest in Utah where's already been declared the winner and in Idaho) then he'll come out ahead for the evening.

As long as he stays with a few hundred going to California he'll have a chance.

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Daenerys's picture

I peeked at DK earlier to see how things were going, but couldn't stomach the Bernie trashing. Disgusting. I'm not giving up on Bernie, because he isn't giving up on us.

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This shit is bananas.

Lookout's picture

I appreciate the time and effort it takes to caucus...thank you for using your time to help Bernie win Utah big!

Keep on a walkin' Keep on a talkin It's not over till it's over.

I'm thinking we may actually pick up a few delegates once the dust settles.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Never went to a caucus before. We got there early, and discovered that our neighbors across the street are progressives too. Chatted with them while waiting for the doors to open. Some people in line wore Bernie T-shirts. The party volunteers were very welcoming, and we made a small donation to help with expenses for the caucus. The guy ahead of me on line wasn't on the list of registered voters - no problem, he just had to go to another table to register. Filled out our ballots, which included our contact info so the party can recruit us as volunteers in the future.

We didn't stick around after voting, it only took a half hour. Meanwhile outside the line grew and it was a block long. GO BERNIE.

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"We've done the impossible, and that makes us mighty."

Our votes counted this time. And Bernie won Utah BIG, 79.7% to 19.8% for Hillary.

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"We've done the impossible, and that makes us mighty."