Caucus Commentary

I am writing to express concerns over the Nevada caucus.

I am a registered Democrat in the town of Pahrump, Nye County, and I have been so since moving here in May 2005. I have never been involved in a caucus before so I made sure I read articles (from three different newspapers) and watched news broadcasts (on four different stations) on the subject to try to understand this process.

I am certain the caucus I attended for Precinct 32 at the Rosemary Clarke Middle School was conducted improperly at best or deliberately wrong to favor or negate one or more candidates at worst.

My understanding of the caucus process:

1. The people from my precinct would separate from the other precincts.

2. The people from my precinct would separate into groups to indicate their support of a particular candidate. Any candidate that had less than 15 percent of the people attending from my precinct would be considered non-viable.

3. At this point, supporters of viable candidates could try to court the supporters of non-viable candidates to add to their numbers for delegates and that the supporters of non-viable candidates could try to court each other and maybe a few supporters of viable candidates in an attempt to gain at least 15 percent of the people attending from my precinct, creating one or more new viable candidates or that the supporters of non-viable candidates could deem themselves as undecided, thereby not giving a vote for any delegate.

4. Finally, the numbers would be tallied and a corresponding number of delegates would be given to each viable candidate.

The caucus procedure that I experienced:

1. Sign in and registering were very chaotic. There were many more participants than expected for the number of people working and the space we were expected to take. Participants and workers were not sure what to do; the caucus started way behind schedule.

I can understand there will be kinks in any type of large production and I sympathize with the workers being overwhelmed and unprepared. But this was "our only chance to have a say about our candidates before the election in November." I think there should have been a great deal of attention and preparation for this historic event.

2. There was not enough printed material for each of the participants. My "ballot" was a torn piece of paper with my registration information sticker on it. On the back, it looked like a commitment sheet for caucus volunteers.

I feel everyone needed to have the printed documents to know how to proceed. This left me out already.

3. My precinct was sent outside to caucus because of overcrowding, so I don't know how things were conducted by the other precincts.

4. We were told we would have to elect a precinct captain. We were told one person's name and asked for a show of hands in support of her.

The acting precinct captain asked this lady if she knew how to be the precinct captain. The lady said no and the acting precinct captain told us the precinct captain would have to know the procedures.

Then we were told a second person's name and asked for a show of hands once again. A number of us shouted out, asking how many were running for precinct captain and who they were. I never heard an answer to our question.

Someone asked the acting precinct captain if she wanted to continue in the position. The acting precinct captain said yes, she would. A show of hands was called for. Again, a majority of people raised their hands, and she was now the precinct captain.

5. We were told to elect a precinct secretary. The acting secretary did not want to continue. Another lady raised her hand. The precinct captain told us this lady had been through the training. A show of hands was called, and this lady became the secretary.

6. We were told to separate into our groups and mark the front side of our ballots with our first choice.

Clinton and Obama were the only viable candidates. Gravel and Kucinich supporters instantly changed our support to the Edwards camp.

The precinct captain collected the Clinton supporters' ballots and told them they could leave.

A man with the Edwards group asked why the Clinton supporters were leaving -- the precinct captain said they had been counted and could leave. She told us, the Edwards supporters, our candidate was non-viable and we had to pick one of the viable candidates.

Several people told the precinct captain that we had a right to try to court enough people from the other camps to make Edwards viable. We were told by the precinct captain the Clinton and Obama supporters weren't going to change their minds, we had to switch our alliances.

The man started arguing with the precinct captain that we had the right to court people from the other groups to try to make Edwards a viable candidate and that the precinct captain was wrong to let the Clinton supporters leave. Edwards needed about eight more people to reach the 15 percent. All of the Clinton supporters were practically gone now.

The precinct captain continued to claim the man was wrong, we were the supporters of a non-viable candidate and we had to switch alliances or not be counted. The man continued to stick to his side of the argument.

The precinct captain stated as precinct captain, she had the right to order him out of the caucus and she was doing so. As the man walked out, several others of us walked out with him, myself included.

7. Yesterday, I came home, with my torn piece of paper "ballot" still in hand, feeling excluded from the election process.

I am 42, I registered to vote at 18, I have voted in every election since. The presidential candidates I have supported have never been elected, but I always felt I had my chance to participate, to have my say, to be counted and to have value.

After my first caucus, I feel negated, not given a voice or given a chance to fairly participate.

The one Kucinich supporter moved to the Edwards camp, saying he wanted there to be more than just the two viable candidates. I was the sole Gravel supporter; I gladly joined forces with the Edwards group because I believe he would represent my values better than the two viable candidates would. I was prepared and optimistic to caucus on his behalf. Who knows, we may have even been able to sway enough people to make Edwards a viable candidate.

If not, maybe I could have been swayed by one of the other camps or at the very least cast my ballot as undecided. Even that would have made me felt I had a chance to speak out and to be counted. Instead, I feel like the option given to me was pick Clinton or Obama or get the hell out of here with your torn piece of paper "ballot."

I'm curious if others had similar experiences. Was my experience was due to ignorance on my part, ignorance on the part of my precinct captain, ignorance of the caucus process as a whole or a diabolical plot to rig the entire election process?

I want to know if those of us who didn't cast our ballots were left uncounted or counted for viable candidates. Can someone please look into this matter on my behalf? Please contact me for any additional information you may want.

CRAIG BOHANNON