General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWould you support the general elections be held in caucus format
Why or why not?
35 votes, 0 passes | Time left: Unlimited | |
Yes, after all there are witnesses | |
1 (3%) |
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No, it sounds crazy | |
26 (74%) |
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WTF are you talking about?!? | |
8 (23%) |
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0 DU members did not wish to select any of the options provided. | |
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Disclaimer: This is an Internet poll |
bigwillq
(72,790 posts)I dislike the caucus format. I work second shift and weekends. Not sure I would ever be able to vote depending on what time the caucus is. I usually vote just before going into work. I like being able to be in and out of the voting booth in a few minutes.
Ohio Joe
(21,655 posts)Not just no but... Fuck no.
joeybee12
(56,177 posts)Option?
La Lioness Priyanka
(53,866 posts)why is that not good enough
joeybee12
(56,177 posts)La Lioness Priyanka
(53,866 posts)and i hypothesized that this was because their candidate was winning the caucuses. the results of this poll seem to indicate that i was probably right in that assumption
joeybee12
(56,177 posts)And even before the whole election shebang started I thought they were a dumb idea, they are not really democratic and a small place like Iowa somehow sets the tone for the next few weeks of the campaign.
La Lioness Priyanka
(53,866 posts)about caucuses and super delegates.
joeybee12
(56,177 posts)Problem is people will complain and then forget about it until the next presidential election.
La Lioness Priyanka
(53,866 posts)Ohio Joe
(21,655 posts)I still would have preferred a primary... The whole caucus deal was a wicked waste of time.
stone space
(6,498 posts)Caucuses can be fun.
pnwmom
(108,925 posts)Skink
(10,122 posts)La Lioness Priyanka
(53,866 posts)JustAnotherGen
(31,681 posts)My vote is private.
La Lioness Priyanka
(53,866 posts)we only support caucuses when it's our chosen guy/gal winning it. else, we all recognize that it's a giant undemocratic process.
BainsBane
(53,001 posts)La Lioness Priyanka
(53,866 posts)exactly the opposite of how you would want voting to go
BainsBane
(53,001 posts)until I worked on GOTV activities are realized how many voters simply are not able to attend.
La Lioness Priyanka
(53,866 posts)which should be simple and stream lined
LostOne4Ever
(9,267 posts)[font style="font-family:'Georgia','Baskerville Old Face','Helvetica',fantasy;" size=4 color=#009999]I oppose caucuses despite the fact that they have overwhelmingly gone for my choice for the nomination.
And to prove that I am not just now saying caucuses are bad to be a contrarian, here is me saying they need to go before you ever made this thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1251&pid=1635172
I prefer a more democratic and transparent methods of electing officials.[/font]
La Lioness Priyanka
(53,866 posts)dogman
(6,073 posts)With a machine, who knows?
La Lioness Priyanka
(53,866 posts)the way you are pointing out rarely if ever has happened in modern times
the other way is simply to make it hard for people to vote, the way caucuses do
dogman
(6,073 posts)But 4.3 million votes were never counted
I wrote that a caucus can still be rigged, as we have seen recently, but it is still more transparent.
I believe there should be a National Election Day that would be a mandatory day off with provisions to vote for critical workers.
The state Parties make their own rules so this is something to be done at the State level. As we have seen the establishment prefers status quo. It's the system they have figured out and are comfortable working in.
La Lioness Priyanka
(53,866 posts)to get her vote counted?
dogman
(6,073 posts)I will repeat again to try and make it more clear, I am not advocating for a caucus, I am merely pointing out that it is more transparent. The goal should be to make ballot voting more secure and transparent. Some of the companies that make these machines make ATMs, I'll bet they have a high standard for accuracy and transparency.
La Lioness Priyanka
(53,866 posts)pnwmom
(108,925 posts)At another, in the same election, a delegate might represent 50 voters. The unfairness is obvious from the git-go.
How wonderful.
UTUSN
(70,496 posts)All caucuses need banning
La Lioness Priyanka
(53,866 posts)BlueMTexpat
(15,349 posts)which candidate wins, a caucus is not an expression of the majority of voters, but merely a majority of those who can attend the caucus.
It is another way to suppress voting, IMO. I don't favor caucuses for primaries and NEVER EVER would I support them for the GE. We have enough shenanigans as it is.
La Lioness Priyanka
(53,866 posts)etherealtruth
(22,165 posts)... for everyone that want to participate the opportunity to participate.
I have always lived in a primary state (so I do not have any first hand experience) .... but I do not understand how people that work (shift work, weekends etc) can participate, how people with disabilities can easily participate, how people that require babysitters (or eldercare) can easily participate.
On one hand it sounds "kinda' interesting and energizing if you are someone that can participate .... but I would like to see a system where more people can vote and do so in the least burdensome way possible.
La Lioness Priyanka
(53,866 posts)pnwmom
(108,925 posts)So, you're right. They're basically a form of voter suppression -- and intended that way.
etherealtruth
(22,165 posts)TNProfessor
(83 posts)What the heck do people do with their kids?
La Lioness Priyanka
(53,866 posts)Lots of people work non traditional hours in this service economy
pnwmom
(108,925 posts)steve2470
(37,457 posts)La Lioness Priyanka
(53,866 posts)Kalidurga
(14,177 posts)The way they are currently done absolutely not. The current way is every state that does them does them differently. In addition to that problem there is a problem in every single state that does them that there is a small window of time to vote in. Another problem at least in Minnesota is that the different parties caucus at different locations.
So, what I would propose is this.
1. In Minnesota we vote by paper ballot and we can leave if we want. Other people stay and conduct the business of the Democratic Party. I propose that all states do this for caucuses let people vote by paper and leave the change I would make is that voting can start very early in the morning and last until the late evening and there is a system where you can send a ballot in early if you have a work conflict.
2. That there are two times that caucusing is done as in there are two shifts for the caucus so more people can participate. This would still give states some savings over having primaries.
3. No more of this stuff where you vote in February and then have to show up again in April to make sure you vote really really counts.
4. Voting day should be like a national holiday only essential workers are required to work so doctors, nurses, bus drivers, etc...
J_J_
(1,213 posts)We have no way to verify our current methods with electronic voting or paper ballots with electronic tabulators
The solution is not caucuses for all
The solution is paper ballots hand counted with results posted at the precinct level before they are sent through central tabulators
shadowandblossom
(718 posts)you still get ballots designed to be problematic or confusing, you get areas that don't have enough ballots, etc. But the magnitude doesn't seem so bad as what can happen if you have everything computerized.
Fenris
(30,414 posts)Too long, too intimate, past experiences can generally discourage people from participating. Also mixed company with the GOP would be volatile.
La Lioness Priyanka
(53,866 posts)wonder where all the pro caucus people went
Zynx
(21,328 posts)I think the nominees of both parties should represent the views of the broadest base of that party's voters as possible, not just the most ardent fringes of both. A general election held with the same problems would yield such a skewed outcome.
Aerows
(39,961 posts)Yo_Mama
(8,303 posts)I also believe that the caucus process is inherently subject to manipulation.
The virtues of it probably outweigh the disadvantages when choosing a nominee, but that is inherently a different process.
La Lioness Priyanka
(53,866 posts)for choosing a nominee
Yo_Mama
(8,303 posts)I can see why some prefer the caucus format.
La Lioness Priyanka
(53,866 posts)Aerows
(39,961 posts)FUCK NO probably sums it up, but I try to avoid being vulgar.
stone space
(6,498 posts)What work would the caucus do?
Would we offer platform planks for the General Election Party?
Candidates for office?
We don't live in a One Party State.
If we did, then perhaps a caucus would make sense.
La Lioness Priyanka
(53,866 posts)1. it could last all day
2. votes could be public
3. we could have speeches from both candidates/their surrogates before the vote
there are definitely ways in which elements of current caucusing could be made in to a general election. It's a terrible idea on both levels, but it could definitely be done.
jwirr
(39,215 posts)people most interested in politics attend most caucuses. I think they are a good idea for the primary because they are a way of discussing the issues etc that need to be addressed as well as voting.
But in the general I cannot imagine allowing voters to all attend a time limited caucus. I would like to see a way to stop the corruption that is possible when using machines at the polls. Back to paper ballots? But it is people who do the cheating so would they count them?
Our voting system needs reforming.
La Lioness Priyanka
(53,866 posts)jwirr
(39,215 posts)but planks into the proposed Democratic Platform at our caucus and the one I proposed was adding a voter mail in rule to allow those who did not have the time to come in to vote also.
Our caucus began registration at 6:30 and voting started at 7:00 going until everyone who was there had voted. The counting started as soon as the voting was done right there in plain sight of all of us.
Many voters came in between 6:30 and 8:00 just to vote. They left because they had to do other things or did not care about the other business. If there was also a mail in that would mean everyone who wanted to vote could.
One of my biggest likes about a caucus system is that we in the party are allowed to work together on party business: voting for county officers, proposing planks for the national party platform, electing the delegates to the first convention and getting to know each other. We also have a system that can be expanded when needed like this year. As soon as the County leaders saw that they did not have enough ballots they started making more paper ballots and they added tables for registration so that the lines would move faster. In a machine operated poll that cannot be done so you have people standing in line to vote until 1:00 in the morning (AZ).
ileus
(15,396 posts)shadowandblossom
(718 posts)They make it harder for elderly, disabled, and working people to vote. If you're in a community where most people don't agree with you, you could be threatened, pressured, harassed, or fired for being so open about your political beliefs.
madinmaryland
(64,920 posts)in an election for any office or initiative, voting is a private affair for the voters. Always has been that way. Most, if not all states have laws against campaigning at the voting precincts. Something that we all understand as the privacy to cast one's own ballot, without having to reveal it to anyone. Well, except for the electronic voting thingee's.
So Far From Heaven
(354 posts)Attendance mandatory.
Recursion
(56,582 posts)and electing a President on its own.
I don't think that's practical, but it's an interesting idea.
Spider Jerusalem
(21,786 posts)Caucuses are undemocratic; they effectively disenfranchise anyone who can't get several hours free to attend, and the lack of a secret ballot is a dealbreaker.
La Lioness Priyanka
(53,866 posts)JustABozoOnThisBus
(23,283 posts)with jugglers and clowns.
(for me, the answer is "no". I like my absentee ballot method; I don't really enjoy crowds or lines.)