The music almost turned me into a Republican.

Check out this "no ads, no bias, just info" League of Women Voters of WA link to caucus and primary information.
http://www.washingtonvoter.org/default.asp?id=199

The caucus system is overly complicated, biased against the weak, infirm, and just plain shy/introverted. Not to mention the fact that it's only for a limited time period during one day so as to biased against low income voters who work service industry jobs. We need a primary vote that counts, not this relic of the past.

So change the State Constitution then, pragmatic.

What, can't get two-thirds of the voters, the House and the Senate?

Oh, well ...

Thank you for posting!

I'm not a low-income service industry worker, but I do work on Saturday. (I'm in healthcare.) I am really unhappy about being disenfranchised!

Will @4: please stop posting on Slog. All you ever offer is completely wrong, completely incorrect bullshit.

Our primary and caucus arrangement isn't written into the constitution. The state constitution doesn't mention primaries or caucuses at all, except in a clause about superior court judges. The legislature could fix our system in an afternoon if they wanted to.

Is anyone going to introduce a resolution on saturday to do away with this stupid cockus system and move the WA Dem Party to a primary-only system in time for 2012?

Or did I read somewhere yesterday that there will be no resolutions accepted at the caucus in the interests of keeping it short??

Just a heads up... on a whim I decided to verify my caucus location that I had confirmed three weeks ago. I was a little chagrined to find it had moved! You might want to doublecheck before you head out the door on Saturday.

@8: I believe that is correct; it was in 2004. You could submit stuff in writing (where it would promptly be thrown away), but not discuss it. The reason should be obvious: a roomful of Seattle Democrats discussing "issues" is a good definition of eternity.

Then why did the Washington State Supreme Court rule that way, Fnarf?

Why did the US Supreme Court back the parties then?

Because it is.

Well?

Look, I personally prefer our old-style no-holds-barred choose-whomever-you-want pick-any-party State Primaries.

But let's get real.

Unless you can do what I said, it won't change.

You wouldn't recognize real if it was crawling up your thigh, Will. Go back and read the rulings again. Read the constitution; it's not that long.

One question I do have is this: if I march in and sign up for my candidate, and have no interest in hearing any arguments for or against, and I'm not going to change my mind even if someone has a big picture of Obama in bed with the corpse of Jesse Helms, do I have to stick around?

It's my understanding that you can sign in and leave. Your vote will still count (while you're sucking on your bong).

@12 - yes, I've read of people doing this in '04 but I've never seen it or done it. If you're not going to change your vote (even because of Jesse Helms), then your vote will count as it is.

From the WA-Democrats website FAQ (#19):

"What if I have to leave my Caucus early? When you sign in at your Caucus, your vote will be counted toward the allocation of delegates. You will not be able to leave a proxy or voting instructions once you leave."

@8: Resolutions will be accepted at the Saturday caucuses, but not debated. They will instead be forwarded directly to the County Convention. So, if you want to get in there and debate your resolution, you need to get elected as a delegate.

@12, 13: They just went over this at Caucus training last night. The rule is that you can sign up and leave and your vote will count, but you must be physically present for the convening of the caucus. So, when the Area Caucus Chair says "Welcome," you can say "Later."

That's what I wanted to hear. I didn't want to find out later, or more likely NOT find out, that there was a second round or something.

You realize if Obama wins the caucuses and Clinton the primary, or vice versa, people are going to be screaming.

I'm so confused that I canceled a meeting for today because I wanted to spend Super Tuesday at my local caucus. Thankfully I figured out my mistake before walking into my caucus location: a middle school, where I surely would've been jumped.

Some questions not addressed: Who thought this crazy shit up? Can we think of a way that my "vote" could be further removed from any actual decision making? Why do we waste state dollars with a meaningless primary?

Hey Sloggers! People can go to our FAQ (http://www.wa-democrats.org/index.php?page=display&id=266) if they need help or they can also give us a call at 206-583-4345 or e-mail grassroots@wa-democrats.org. Happy Caucusing!

If you don't like the caucus system, then go to the caucus, get yourself elected as a delegate, go the convention and organize like-minded delegates to join you in raising the issue there. Duh.

Parties are not the government. They can choose their candidates any way they please. If you think it's fucked up, that's fine. Start a new party, or get involved in the party of your choice so you can try to change the way it does business. But the Democrats have no more of a legal obligation to follow the primary system than the Elks or the Rotary Club do.

The reason we have a primary is because the legislature voted for one in 1989. That's the only law involved in the process, and it's the law that is referenced in the court cases. But, as Ole points out, the party isn't obligated to pay attention to the results.

The reason we have a caucus is because the party decides to. They always have; and when the law came in they decided they wanted to keep doing it. They think it "increases grassroots participation". I think they're full of crap. I'd rather vote in a primary, myself.

@20 - Theoretically, you could have a group of like-minded delegates join you at the county convention (where most resolutions will be debated - endlessly and in horridly painful detail), and propose such a resolution, but chances are pretty good that it'd be ruled out of order, as the convention is not empowered with the authority to change the caucus system. The legislature has to do that.

Personally, I think there are only two reasons to go to the caucuses. One is if you really have a dog in the fight as to which candidate you want to be the nominee. In this case, either is fine, but I'm not enthusiastic enough about either one to waste a Saturday arguing with the supporters of the other one. The other reason to go is if you want to be elected delegate so you can go on to the county convention. Personally, I'd rather have root canal without anesthesia than listen to the endless debates about the placement of commas in another Israel-Palestine resolution. The other reason is if you're hoping to be elected to State or National as a delegate; you have to be elected at the precinct and legislative district levels before you can run at the congressional district level for National (unless you want to stand for election as an at-large - and frankly, your chances of that are pretty damned small unless you can give one hell of a barn-burner of a speech in two minutes). I don't want to go this year, so I don't see a strong reason to attend the caucus.

I don't know if it was much of a barn-burner, but I did convert a few people into Kerry voters at my 2004 caucus. For which I expect to roast in Hell....

Caucuses seem incredibly unfair for police officers, doctors, nurses, fire fighters, baristas, bus drivers and everyone else who works on weekends. There are laws that state an employer has to give time off for voting:
http://www.toolkit.com/news/newsDetail.aspx?nid=02-075voting
But I'm not sure if these rules apply to a primary/caucus or not.

@24: They don't. It's not a public vote, it's a party meeting.

Okay, so let me get this straight: First we have the Precinct Caucus. Then we send delegates from that to the Legislative District Caucus. Then we send delegeates from that to an unreadable yellow rectangle?