So, here's what happened:
I got there around 10:45am.
Stood in line and spoke with a nice gentleman in front of me about our previous political experiences. When someone came out and said that people who pre-registered online (I did not know this was an option) could go ahead tot a different line, he left. I got to listen to some older women behind me complain that TV cameras were there and that they should "keep that thing out of my face". [Really though, why would there be cameras at a caucusing site for President. Who's gonna care about or watch something like that on TV. Am I right?]
Anyway, I got up to the table to check in and a man working on a laptop - who looked very much like a gaunt Daniel Patrick Kelly ("Warriors! Come out and play-ee-yay!!!) with horn-rimmed glasses informed me his laptop battery had died. They brought over a power cord for him, but he didn't know where to plug it into the laptop (I showed him it was on the back). He took my Nevada Driver's License, looked me up, and told me that since I am a non-partisan, I had to either register as a Democrat or I couldn't participate.
Directed to the next table, I re-registered as a Democrat.
Once that was done, I was sent to a classroom which was representative of my district.
Older Man with no teeth: "So, you're for Sanders, huh?"
Me: "Yep."
OMWNT: "How do you think he could do with a republican Congress?"
Me: "Well, considering the obstructionist ways of the current GOP, I don't think Sanders OR Clinton could do much with a republican Congress. I mean, look what they have done under President Obama. If anything, we need to make sure the Congress gets a Democratic majority as well. "
OMWNT: "Hmm."
The others at our table nod in agreement, then begin to introduce themselves to me. We ended up having a pleasant conversation for a few minutes.
UNTIL...
The Lady at the front of the room began to shush us while snapping her fingers (I hate that). She introduced herself as the temporary precinct chair and went through the steps we were to be doing for the caucus. First order of business was to elect a permanent precinct chair. She informed us that she had taken a class or something so she knew what she was doing.
She ran unopposed and won. Yay, Democracy!
Then, she introduced a man standing next to her and explained he also "trained" for the caucus and was running as precinct secretary.
He ran unopposed and won. Yay, more Democracy!
Now that they got their titles, She asked for volunteers to read letters from various people, including Harry Reid (D-NV), Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. They were all letters thanking us for being there and participating in "the process" of electing a President. Reid did not endorse anyone except a Democratic woman that was running for his seat. Clinton used Bill's technique of naming individuals and telling of how she will help them personally. Sanders said the rich have too much, we need to fix our "infrastructshuh", and he is not running a campaign so much as leading a revolution. Nothing new from any of them.
Next, she needed to take a head count. This proved to be a difficult task for our newly elected precinct chair. She went around the room and, when she pointed at you, you were to say the next number. Problem was, we had people sitting at tables in front and/or behind others. So, when she pointed at some of us (myself included) it was difficult to see who she was pointing at, and two of us would say the same number.
Three times, she did this.
39 people in our classroom...and it took three times to count us.
After that, she had us split into two camps.
"If you are for Hillary, go to the South side of the room. If you are for Bernie, go to the North side of the room."
Ok, easy enough. I stayed in my seat because I was already on the North side of the room.
"Now, I want to ask that one person from each group be in charge of counting how many people are in your group."
Simple. Four of us counted 12 people and verified the number with each other.
She then asked how many for Bernie; I said "12".
How many for Hillary? 20-something (several people spoke at the same time).
Finally, one guy on over on the South side shouts, "27!"
Our chair then proceeded to either not believe us, or felt the need to waste a few minutes by counting herself. Although, when I say herself, all I mean is she did the pointing at a cluster of people, expecting them to figure out which direction she was going and shouting out their number. You know, because that worked out so well the last time she tried that.
The Sanders supporters did it in one try. Go Bernie!
The Clinton supporters took two tries.
At this point, the couple sitting next to me began openly mocking the chair and her math "skills", which made me laugh.
The next part was to figure out the delegates. Another odd math equation happened. We had to take the number of people on each side, multiply that by 16 (the total amount of delegates possible in our room), then divide by 39.
Clinton - 27x16/39 = 11.076923.769 or 11
Sanders - 12x16/39 = 4.9230769231 or 5
Chair: "Ok. Now that we have those numbers, those are the number of delegates that need to go to the state convention."
Me & several others: "When and where is the next one?"
Chair: "I will look it up."
She couldn't find that info for a few minutes. During that time, an older Hispanic man decided to quiz me on the different flags from around the world that were bordering the room at the ceiling. I got 5 out of 6 right and missed hearing the information I was waiting for: When and where...
Chair: "April 2nd but they haven't picked a location yet, but it will be somewhere in Las Vegas. We need volunteers who will go to that event."
We were told that if we do not have enough people to volunteer, the campaigns themselves would supply people for us...problem solved. Of the 12 of us, only four wanted to go. I was one that did not want to go.
Since I declined, I was told that I could hand in my ballot and go, so that's what I did, around 1:00pm
All in all, it was a rather lackluster experience, with a lot of waiting around for people to get their shit together. Not the experience I was hoping for, but I am glad I did it anyway. I now get to say, Yes! I participated in a caucus. Not everyone can say that.
As for the results, apparently, Clinton won by around 4%, but who really knows. Check out this clusterfuck.
I got there around 10:45am.
Stood in line and spoke with a nice gentleman in front of me about our previous political experiences. When someone came out and said that people who pre-registered online (I did not know this was an option) could go ahead tot a different line, he left. I got to listen to some older women behind me complain that TV cameras were there and that they should "keep that thing out of my face". [Really though, why would there be cameras at a caucusing site for President. Who's gonna care about or watch something like that on TV. Am I right?]
Anyway, I got up to the table to check in and a man working on a laptop - who looked very much like a gaunt Daniel Patrick Kelly ("Warriors! Come out and play-ee-yay!!!) with horn-rimmed glasses informed me his laptop battery had died. They brought over a power cord for him, but he didn't know where to plug it into the laptop (I showed him it was on the back). He took my Nevada Driver's License, looked me up, and told me that since I am a non-partisan, I had to either register as a Democrat or I couldn't participate.
(I mean, it could be, right?)
Directed to the next table, I re-registered as a Democrat.
Once that was done, I was sent to a classroom which was representative of my district.
The room was almost full when I got there. I grabbed a chair and asked a group at a table if I could join them; they obliged. Turns out I sat at a table of Hillary supporters and I am for Bernie, thought that box was not checked off on my ballot. I borrowed a pen from a nice Hispanic lady to my left and as soon as I checked off "Bernie Sanders", I received a couple of interesting looks from my table mates.
Older Man with no teeth: "So, you're for Sanders, huh?"
Me: "Yep."
OMWNT: "How do you think he could do with a republican Congress?"
Me: "Well, considering the obstructionist ways of the current GOP, I don't think Sanders OR Clinton could do much with a republican Congress. I mean, look what they have done under President Obama. If anything, we need to make sure the Congress gets a Democratic majority as well. "
OMWNT: "Hmm."
The others at our table nod in agreement, then begin to introduce themselves to me. We ended up having a pleasant conversation for a few minutes.
UNTIL...
The Lady at the front of the room began to shush us while snapping her fingers (I hate that). She introduced herself as the temporary precinct chair and went through the steps we were to be doing for the caucus. First order of business was to elect a permanent precinct chair. She informed us that she had taken a class or something so she knew what she was doing.
She ran unopposed and won. Yay, Democracy!
Then, she introduced a man standing next to her and explained he also "trained" for the caucus and was running as precinct secretary.
He ran unopposed and won. Yay, more Democracy!
Now that they got their titles, She asked for volunteers to read letters from various people, including Harry Reid (D-NV), Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. They were all letters thanking us for being there and participating in "the process" of electing a President. Reid did not endorse anyone except a Democratic woman that was running for his seat. Clinton used Bill's technique of naming individuals and telling of how she will help them personally. Sanders said the rich have too much, we need to fix our "infrastructshuh", and he is not running a campaign so much as leading a revolution. Nothing new from any of them.
Next, she needed to take a head count. This proved to be a difficult task for our newly elected precinct chair. She went around the room and, when she pointed at you, you were to say the next number. Problem was, we had people sitting at tables in front and/or behind others. So, when she pointed at some of us (myself included) it was difficult to see who she was pointing at, and two of us would say the same number.
Three times, she did this.
39 people in our classroom...and it took three times to count us.
After that, she had us split into two camps.
"If you are for Hillary, go to the South side of the room. If you are for Bernie, go to the North side of the room."
Ok, easy enough. I stayed in my seat because I was already on the North side of the room.
"Now, I want to ask that one person from each group be in charge of counting how many people are in your group."
Simple. Four of us counted 12 people and verified the number with each other.
She then asked how many for Bernie; I said "12".
How many for Hillary? 20-something (several people spoke at the same time).
Finally, one guy on over on the South side shouts, "27!"
Our chair then proceeded to either not believe us, or felt the need to waste a few minutes by counting herself. Although, when I say herself, all I mean is she did the pointing at a cluster of people, expecting them to figure out which direction she was going and shouting out their number. You know, because that worked out so well the last time she tried that.
The Sanders supporters did it in one try. Go Bernie!
The Clinton supporters took two tries.
At this point, the couple sitting next to me began openly mocking the chair and her math "skills", which made me laugh.
The next part was to figure out the delegates. Another odd math equation happened. We had to take the number of people on each side, multiply that by 16 (the total amount of delegates possible in our room), then divide by 39.
Clinton - 27x16/39 = 11.076923.769 or 11
Sanders - 12x16/39 = 4.9230769231 or 5
Chair: "Ok. Now that we have those numbers, those are the number of delegates that need to go to the state convention."
Me & several others: "When and where is the next one?"
Chair: "I will look it up."
She couldn't find that info for a few minutes. During that time, an older Hispanic man decided to quiz me on the different flags from around the world that were bordering the room at the ceiling. I got 5 out of 6 right and missed hearing the information I was waiting for: When and where...
Chair: "April 2nd but they haven't picked a location yet, but it will be somewhere in Las Vegas. We need volunteers who will go to that event."
We were told that if we do not have enough people to volunteer, the campaigns themselves would supply people for us...problem solved. Of the 12 of us, only four wanted to go. I was one that did not want to go.
Since I declined, I was told that I could hand in my ballot and go, so that's what I did, around 1:00pm
All in all, it was a rather lackluster experience, with a lot of waiting around for people to get their shit together. Not the experience I was hoping for, but I am glad I did it anyway. I now get to say, Yes! I participated in a caucus. Not everyone can say that.
As for the results, apparently, Clinton won by around 4%, but who really knows. Check out this clusterfuck.
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