We came, we caucused, we elected

delegates that is…to the County Assembly…for our preferred candidate for U.S. Senate.

The Location

Find Your Precinct

The first step in any caucus is to find your precinct if your location has multiple precincts. At Lewis Palmer High School, for what is called the County Line Central neighborhood, we had 12 precincts including some newly created ones that were parceled out from previously larger precincts. We have found that many people just don’t recall what their precinct number is so we brought precinct maps and a laptop with a list of all democrats in El Paso County so that, even if you turned up to the wrong location we could have told you where to go. That didn’t happen, but about 75% of our caucus attendees needed a little assistance; the rest either had their voter card with them or had a good memory.  Luckily, we also had help.

This year the attendance was down compared to 2008. This was not a big surprise to anyone. However, all precincts were represented and  the attendance was still much higher than it had been in previous caucuses and the attendees were diligent in performing their civic duties. Our location was Lewis Palmer High School, which also hosted the Republican Caucus on the same night in a different room. Our room was the distance learning lab which was really very nice facility with semi-circular desks and rolling chairs. Someone in the know explained to us about the technology available in this room and how it is used to link up with kids at Palmer Ridge High School so that they can attend the same class with one group in the same room as the teacher and the other school being the “distance” part of the equation. We didn’t get to leverage any of that technology but it was very nice to see it being made available to the kids in our community. (more…)

 

You say you want a resolution…

We all want to change the world. Well this is one way to do it.  At your upcoming caucus, after you select your preference for any contested election and elect delegates and alternates to go on to the County Assembly to represent their candidate, and after you get a chance to sign up to be an Election Judge, you can submit a resolution for the caucus to vote on.

Resolutions say what we will do as a political party. They start at the precinct level and are voted on at the county level where they are taken to the state level to form the party platform. The state party platform for Colorado lays out the principles and top priorities for Colorado democrats. Basically this says what we believe, why we believe it and what we are going to do about it. The state platform feeds into the national party platform.

You can bring your own resolution to the caucus or you may be involved with a political organization that provides a resolution for you to submit. Resolutions can be short (We resolve to support innovation in public education) or they can be VERY long. They can be very broad (see previous) or very specific (We resolve to fix the street light on East Suburban Road). You can type them up in advance or write them down on the spot. They will be collected and sent to the crack resolution committee who will transcribe and organize them by themes. They will be taken to the County Assembly and voted on by delegates.  My advice is to try and type them up in advance, make them short and make them broad (things that are important to a number of people). I haven’t seen any resolutions to fix the street light on someone’s block pass at the county level.

Some key points about resolutions:

  • Any one at the caucus can submit a resolution
  • Resolutions should be submitted in writing, discussed by caucus attendees and voted on
  • Resolutions must pass by a majority vote to go on to the County Assembly
  • Votes will be recorded by the caucus secretary

And that’s all it takes to change the world!

 
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