Wampum

Caucus-schmaucus...

One of the reasons I've been so absent from the pages of Wampum during the last week is that I'm currently juggling preparations for our Democratic caucus this Sunday. Voter turnout for general elections in Maine is among the highest in the nation (in 2000, it was over 70%), but our record for primary and caucus turnout has in the past been pretty dismal, at less than 10%. But this year, the expectations are things will be quite different.

Three weeks ago, heeding the rapidly escalating interest among both party regulars and political neophytes, the Portland Democratic City Committee (of which, I'm the current treasurer), moved the city's caucus location from the middle school to one of the two city high schools. With most of the remaining candidates now committing to speaking at the caucus, rumors of a thousand participants do not seem unfounded.

This is incredible news. With nearly 200 delegates to the state convention up for grabs in Portland, in past years it's often been difficult to even fill those positions with caucus attendees. This is one reason Maine abandoned the caucus format for a presidential primary in 1996. Even the Bradley-Gore contest in 2000 could not yield more than mild interest. Now, our planning this week had to cover not only precinct scheduling and speaker lists, but where to put the candidates' press corps, and issue which has never come up in past years.

But to most Americans familiar only with the very private experience of stepping into a curtained booth to cast their vote for their party's potential nominee, caucuses are a completely foreign animal altogether. Neighbors gathering for hours on end to openly debate and finally physically divide into groups for one (or no) candidate seem almost incomprehensible. Some comments I've read around the web have likened the process to the "backroom bargaining of political bosses" of bygone eras.

The irony is that caucuses, whose history trace back to Eastern Algonquin political practices first documented by early European colonials, is the ultimate in democratic public decision making. And as I put together a quick "cheat sheet" for my 20 precinct caucus "conveners", aka, chairpersons, I thought I'd share with my non-caucus attending readership the skinny on what will (hopefully) occur in those two to three hours Sunday evening.

Hour 1: The candidates

During this time, all caucus participants, as well as observers and press, will convene in the Deering H.S. gym. Potential participants not registered to vote, or switching their affiliation from "unenrolled" to Democrat will have the opportunity beginning a half-hour before the events commence. The gym bleachers will be set up, press corralled (by the brave Brian-the-Wampum-Intern no less), and speakers' microphone enabled. During the next hour, various speakers, ranging from the governor to the candidate or their surrogates, will have five minutes each (!!!) to rally the forces or sway undecided voters. At the end, directions will be given for participants to break into their precinct groups, and the crowds will then disperse into the main high school building.

Hour 2: The precinct caucuses

The thousand or so Portland Democrats will now break into their twenty precincts, each housed in a separate classroom (except "the Islands", which will convene together in one room.) Participants will be checked in and handed a "ballot", visitors provided with credentials denoting their non-participatory status. A chairperson will be nominated and elected, as will the caucus secretary. Precinct business, such as the nomination of county committee members and election officials will be brought before the group.

Then the fun starts.

The chairperson will direct caucus goers to form preference groups in designated areas around the room. Participants will physically move to those locations, and will be given a set amount of time to solidify those groups. Absentee ballots are also divided at this time. Groups or individuals who do the quick math can either move to other larger groups, or join the uncommitteds, which has its own preference group.

Once the groups are set, the real math begins. Delegates are allotted proportionally; there is no "viability" threshold in the Maine caucuses. With the large number of delegates to be divided in Portland, practically all the candidates have an opportunity to pick up delegates. However, if after the initial allotment is finished, those preference groups with no delegates will be given the opportunity to "re-align" with other groups, or withdraw from the caucus altogether. In addition, members of successful preference groups may choose, for what ever reason, to move to another group. After the "re-alignment" occurs, the caucus chair and secretary do the math all over again. Preference groups can win or lose delegates in this second round. But then the numbers are set.

In the next phase, preference groups with delegates nominate and elect which participants (or those who indicted interest in their absentee ballot) will represent them as delegates to the state Democratic convention in June. Alternates are also selected. (Maine Democratic Party rules call for the delegate selection to be gender balanced.)

The ballots are then marked and collected by the chairperson. They are officially tallied, secured, and sent to the caucus headquarters. Caucus attendees are now free to disperse.

Viola! Not such a complicated and mysterious process after all. At least this is what I'm hoping for.

But then, I, like thousands of Mainers, have never attended a caucus before. Stories of the 1992 caucus where Brown supporters figuratively stormed the political barricades leaves me more than a little antsy. But if nothing else, Sunday will be a day for most Portland Democrats to remember for a long time.

Posted by MB Williams at February 4, 2004 08:03 AM