TriLakes Dems

This modified Ghandi quote came to mind as I watched candidates, surrogates and supporters talk about why they or their nominee was an excellent choice for delegates at the El Paso County Assembly to support. Hearing Mayor John Hickenlooper speak was probably THE top moment. But let’s back up and start over…

Registration

The morning was early; but other volunteers were already there and working on setting up laptops with scanners, posting signs, setting up barriers…all with an eye to improving the attendee experience over the very exciting but very trying 2008 County Assembly. Of course 2008 was an election year with a hotly contested and highly interesting contested presidential contest. This being a mid-term year, with a warmly contested Senatorial contest, was a probably a tad less interesting. The organizing committee also did a lot of up front work calculating the number of delegates per precinct based on them maximum capacity of the venue, and having pre-registration and check-in by last name rather than house district (really, how many people know their house district off the top of their heads? or know what a house district is?). All of that, plus warmer weather, made the event run more smoothly; there is room for future improvement but this was a good start.

Senate Preference

The main event was choosing your preference for Senate candidate. Our credentials which consisted of a piece of cardboard with our name had several sections for checking in, senate preference vote, state assembly sign-up, CD5 assembly, etc. As a Romanoff delegate, I got a helpful email from the El Paso County Field Coordinator pointing out that I could vote immediately after checking in and could turn in my State Assembly ballot at their table. Of course, I could also wait and listen to the speakers promote their respective candidates (or the guy who make the case for Uncommitted) and then vote, but the helpful Romanoff folk were there to be helpful and encourage you to vote right away. The Bennet campaign also had a table but didn’t seem to be out in as much force as the Romanoff camp. But for many people, the day could have ended early once they turned in their Senate preference and, if they wanted to be a delegate or alternate, turned in their State Assembly ballot–that would have gotten them out before 9:30am easily.

While the votes were being counted, we had break out sessions for House Districts, Senate Districts and County Commissioner Districts. We got a chance to meet each other, discuss open positions, introduce candidates, vote for our leaders and make announcements. In HD 20, we do not have candidates for all political positions, so those positions were referred to the vacancy committee–but first we had to fill the vacancies on the vacancy committee, which we did. In our County Commissioner District 1, our current commissioner Wayne Williams is term limited and our Democratic candidate is Steve Kjonaas (pronounced Shawn-Us) who spoke about the needs of the job and his qualifications. You can learn more and donate at his web site: http://www.vote-steve.com.

Another agenda item was to vote for the resolutions that passed at the precinct caucuses held earlier in the year. The resolution committee (all two of them) collected, collated and organized about 95 resolutions with a voting sheet to vote for or against. The topics were varied (justice, education, corporate personhood, health care, labor, defense, etc.), there were a number that were very similar, but I predict, the most popular will be the last one “We resolve to support peace, love and rock’n'roll.” The deadline for this was by end of date but it could have been done much earlier.

Finally there was a report on how it all went and in El Paso County, Andrew Romanoff got 307 (55%) votes to Michael Bennet’s 251 (45%); Romanoff will send 186 delegates to state; Bennet will send 152. The next part was to choose delegates to the State Assembly; this involved having each side move to one side of the auditorium and discuss the process. On the Romanoff side, they had already requested our ballots before but asked anyone who hadn’t turned them in to do so now.  We had about 41 more people express an interest in going than needed so they became alternates and the rest became delegates. Given typical drop-offs, anyone who wants to go will be able to go, we were assured. This was one BIG difference between the 2008 and 2010 County Assemblies–in 2008 we had WAY more people want to go to the State than were allowed so we actually had to stay and vote on the delegates.  The entire event in 20008 lasted until about 6:00pm as opposed to 2:30pm this year.

Although I did stay until the very end I WAS ready for it to end at finally at 2:30. For those who just want to vote their preference, in most years, this can be a very quick and simple process and I hope to encourage more people who attend the Caucus to take the next step and come to the County Assembly and the next one and come to State. It is a fascinating look at the political process in Colorado and you get to meet a lot of interesting and passionate people. It gives you a chance to participate in the process from the grassiest of roots to the hopiest of changes.  And that is how we become the hopey changey we want to see in the world!!!

See  you at the State Assembly on Saturday, May 22, 2010 in Broomfield, CO!!!!

P.S. See my live tweets from the El Paso County Assembly here. See more pictures of the event on Facebook here.