Utah Precinct Caucus in Reflection

I've had about a week and a half to look back and reflect on the event of my precinct caucus meeting here in Utah. I've been to other caucus meetings and they were short and productive. These meetings were quiet and orderly. Well, except for my first one, but that's another story for another day. The whole point here is that the way these meetings were conducted have traditionally been a very good showing for the so called "grass-roots" politics here in Utah.

This latest meeting can also be called orderly. Especially if you hadn't been to one before. Now I need to step back for a minute to explain a few things.

The way a precinct caucus meeting for the Salt Lake County, Utah Republican party go as follows; The meeting is called to order, the party platform is read as quickly as possible(however, questions have been welcome to clarify particular points), and then voting. The way voting takes place is supposed to be similar to the way an actual legislative session takes place, which is conducted by the "Roberts Rules of Order". You don't make movements with this form, because movements are for the toilet. You make motions. If there is a question, you call Point of Order before taking the floor, and so on. It's a little more lax than how I make it sound, but the Robets Rules of Order is there so that there can be no disputes concerning the way an election is held.

When voting, the precinct chairman is presiding. There are precinct offices; chair, vice-chair, treasurer and secretary. Other offices, the ones that everyone concern themselves with, are those of state delegate and county delegate. This year the office of state delegate here in Utah is especially important because of the big United States Senate seat that is up for grabs. One thing that I know for sure is that the incumbent, Sen. Bob Bennett, R, Utah, will loose his seat. The only thing I don't know for sure is if he'll loose it in convention or a forced primary.

Now to the business I undertook in the first place.

Our latest precinct caucus was an entirely different undertaking this year. Instead of holding them in homes, the county party decided to gather whole legislative districts together in school auditoriums for the reading of the party platform. This decision presented a huge logistical problem. Normally the democrats in Utah will do it this way and never have a problem because there aren't many democrats here. Couple that with voter outrage with incumbents and you have a lot of people who want and have a right and duty to be involved.

On the evening of March 23, 2010, my parents and I made our way to the caucus site. We were surprised to see more cars in the lot than we thought there would be. Then we remembered how heated these senate races would be. When we walked around the building to the door, we were even more surprised to see that the line to get in was out the door. There were campaign signs all along the walkway up to the doors and then inside, too. Once we got inside we learned why the lines were so long to get in. All the many precincts in our legislative district were being signed in all at once at tables just inside the door. This may not have been as big of a problem as it was, but most of the people there hadn't ever been to caucus meeting, and so didn't know their precinct number. That, and we had tons of people show up late. With all of this confusion, getting people signed in and verified as Republican took longer than it should have.

The meeting was supposed to start at seven that evening. I was in my seat ten minutes early. At 7:15, they said it would be another ten to fifteen minutes. Well, a half hour later, we finally got started. There was a flag ceremony(never had that before, but it was refreshing to have one), and we finally got around to reading the party platform. Suffice it to say that this reading was different than any others I've been privy to participate in. It was like the freakin' State of the Union address. I was wondering if the people knew that we were here to vote, not listen to a speech. Finally, after over an hour from when we were supposed to start, we separated to our precincts, some in the auditorium and others in the cafeteria, and got to work.

This didn't take very long at all. Most of our precinct, at least the regulars, knew how this business took place, and we got the real work done in less than half an hour. I was lucky(or unlucky) enough to be elected as a county delegate from my precinct. I've done this job before, and it seemed that my neighbors were glad to send me to the convention. I was only 18 the first time I did this, so now that I'm four years more mature, I really hope that I will enjoy the experience at the county convention as much I did before.

I hope those of you who want to be more involved in your local government will feel the urge to do so and take the plunge. There is no other person who will take the advantage for you. Despite my latest experience, I doubt it will be as much of an organizational nightmare as it was that night ever again. I love the opportunity to work with my neighbors to ensure a safe and enjoyable community, and this is a great way to do it.

Tell us about your experience from your Utah precinct caucus in the comments.