“But… didn’t we vote to get rid of caucuses?” I hear constantly. Yes, for Presidential Preference, we will have a balloted Primary going forward. HOWEVUH—
It goes to show how hard it is for Counties driven by volunteer power, with massive variances in financial resources, to get the word out to Democrats who want a greater level of participation. In 2016, the overwhelming majority of folks who turned out to support their Presidential candidate knew nothing about the Assembly side of the Caucus—only the Presidential side known as Convention. Well, it ain’t a Prez year either, and we have a full slate of candidates for a big pile of offices, and it is TIME for everyone to show the eff up in this Big Beautiful Blue year to make it the most gloriously deep-hued cobaltic sea wave possible.
If we want to elect More And Better Democrats, we must be intimately involved in the primary process, and where we are now is the most intimate part of the primary. At Caucus, we have a neighborhood meeting of Democrats, and we send some of our number as delegates up to the County level, and on to State, Congressional District, Judicial District, and Multi-County House and Senate District Assemblies. It is at these Assemblies that candidates make ballot with at least 30% support levels, retain the ability to petition on with 10-29% support, or fail out with less than 10% support (unless they refrained from entering the caucus process, instead electing to get on the ballot solely via petitioning).
Y’all who’re faithful Kosserian readers probably know most if not all of what I just said—this is for yer friends. In addition to the Feb 5 registration update deadline for folks who have moved recently, or who turned 18 after January 8, there is some more information you’ll want before March 6. The first order of business, assuming your voting address is current, is knowing your Precinct. This is the smallest unit of political district organization—it’s your political neighborhood. In almost all cases, each precinct runs its own caucus, a public meeting with a Chair and Secretary elected just for the purpose of running the evening’s meeting. DO NOT PANIC AT THIS TIME—you can do this. For reference, here are the basics from the Colorado Democratic Party.
If you have a voter registration card, it will have a 10 digit Precinct number on it—the last three digits are your precinct. The prior seven digits reference, in order: * single digit Congressional District
* two digit State Senate
* two digit State House
* two digit County Code (numerical order, alphabetically)
You can also log in to the Secretary of State site and look up your precinct. Counties have varying levels of assistance in helping you find your precinct: Denver's Democratic Party has a great Precinct Finder.
Boulder County Dems: not too shabby.
Arapahoe Dems are on top of it.
Douglas County has a zoomable PDF, but no Finder yet.
Adams has maps if you know your Precinct number. Otherwise, use the PDFs and zoom.
Weld County's zoomable PDF has Greeley/Evans, and other.
The best El Paso County precinct finder comes courtesy of the Gazette.
Mesa County: find your house and click on it.
Thats enough for tonight. Not much of an open thread, is it. Well… how great is your precinct? Are you a Precinct Committee Person? Have you been able to walk your precinct? Tell your story, and we’ll talk about that next week, as ColoTim will IIRC still be away from his desk.
Colorado State Open thread is part of this complete State Open Thread breakfast:
Colorado: Mondays, 7:00 PM Mountain Michigan: Wednesdays, 6:00 PM Eastern North Carolina: Sundays, 1:00 PM Eastern Missouri: Wednesday Evenings Kansas: Monday Evenings
Thanks for reading!