Organizing for America | Pieces of a Supporter's Mind: Voting in the Nevada Caucus

Voting in the Nevada Caucus

By Athena - Jan 14th, 2008 at 1:30 pm EST

Also listed in: Open Letter To Obama

Comments | Mail to a Friend | Report Objectionable Content

Tags: caucus, Delegates, Democratic party, elections, Nevada, votes

I have compiled some basic information on how the democratic caucus works in Nevada. Please feel free to comment or add additional information:

Who is eligible to Vote?

All participants must be Democrats registered to vote in the precinct. A list of registered Democrats will be available at the caucuses. If you are not on the list and are not registered to vote, you will be able to register as a Democrat at the caucus.

• Seventeen-year-olds, who will be 18 by the general election on November 4, 2008, will be allowed to fully participate. They will be required to fill out a voter registration card and register as a Democrat if they have not done so already.

• Participants may register to vote at the caucus. Republicans, nonpartisans and others can change registration to become a Democrat that day.

Source: Nevada Democratic Party

When will the voting take place?

On January 19, arrive by 11:00 am to register.

How does the caucus process work?

There are 33 delegates at stake. Here is how the Nevada Democratic party translates votes into delegates:

-- For caucuses which elect one (1) delegate: No groups may form, the delegate must be elected by the whole caucus

-- For caucuses which elect two (2) delegates: Viable groups must contain 25% of attendees (# eligible attendees X .25)

-- For caucuses which elect three (3) delegates: Viable groups must contain 1/6th of attendees (# eligible attendees, divided by 6)

-- For caucuses which elect four (4) or more delegates: Viable groups must contain 15% of attendees (# eligible attendees X .15)

Source: Nevada Democratic Party

Caucus participants will indicate which candidate they support. The precinct caucus chair will then announce which candidates have the most support and which candidates do not have enough support to meet the “viability” threshold. Caucus participants who support a candidate who is not viable and has not met the threshold of support to continue will then realign themselves with their second choice candidate. Based on the size of the presidential preference groups in support of one candidate or another, the delegates to the county convention are apportioned.

Source: Office of the Nevada Secretary of State

How are delegates apportioned?

Party caucuses meet in each precinct to choose delegates to county conventions. The delegates selected are not bound to any candidate. At the county conventions on Feb. 23, delegates to the state convention are chosen.

Friday 18 April - Sunday 20 April 2008: The Nevada State Democratic Convention convenes. On Saturday 19 April 2008, the State Convention chooses 25 of Nevada's 33 delegates to the Democratic National Convention.

Sixteen district delegates are to be allocated proportionally to presidential contenders based on the support among the delegates to the State Convention from each of the State's 3 congressional districts.

Congressional District 1: 6
Congressional District 2: 6 (Washoe 3, Rural Counties 1, Clark 2)
Congressional District 3: 4

In addition, 9 delegates are to be allocated to presidential contenders based on the support among the delegates to the State Convention as a whole.

6 at-large National Convention delegates
3 Pledged

The remaining 8 National Convention delegates consist of

7 Unpledged delegates:
- 5 Democratic National Committee members.
- 2 Members of Congress (1 Senator and 1 Representative).
- 0 Governors.
- 0 Distinguished Party Leaders.
1 Unpledged "add-on" (selected by the state convention as a whole).

These 8 delegates and will go to the Democratic National Convention officially "Unpledged".

Source: The New York Times, The Nevada Democratic Party, Thegreenpapers.com

Reader Comments	Comments RSS
Comments are closed for this post.

Good info | Report to Admin

By Patty Jan 14th 2008 at 4:35 pm EST

I agree, Athena, it will be very interesting to see which way the wind blows after Nevada (hopefully a nice northwest breeze that blows him all the way down to South Carolina -ha!)

Call DNC and Re-post Widely | Report to Admin

By Sheri in AZ Jan 14th 2008 at 5:56 pm EST

Thanks, Athena. Reposting here:

I just got off the phone with Caleb at the DNC (1-877-336-7200 toll-free) and asked him where Howard Dean is on speaking out about the slash-and-burn tactics adopted by the opponent's campaign. He asked me to encourage everyone who is bothered by this negativity to call him ASAP and vent, so that he can go to Dr. Dean and persuade him to speak out how these tactics are hurting the party. The Republicans are watching and the voters are getting diverted from the issues. He said the more calls they get, the better. Already voters are raising their voices and the DNC needs volume now to encourage the DNC to step up, as it should.

So, call now and tell others to do so, too.

Re: Call DNC and Re-post Widely | Report to Admin

By Maria Jan 16th 2008 at 1:48 pm EST

Hi Athena,

Under "When will the voting take place?" Please change arrival time to 11:00 AM. This is very important because

Caucus registration begins at 11:00 AM. It’s important to get there early because the caucus agenda begins at 11:30 AM.

Thank you. Also thanks for putting this information together.

Maria

question | Report to Admin

By Phil Jan 17th 2008 at 5:29 pm EST

Here's a question -- how are delegates allocated to the caucus locations? And what is the impact of the newly-added locations for casino workers?

If anybody can provide these facts, I want to compare it with Bill Clinton's claim that the caucus locations that were questioned in the lawsuit will give these caucus-goers much more clout than other caucus-goers.

I know this is asking a lot, but can we start with the facts? (and try not to dump on Bill too much)

Re: question | Report to Admin

By Phil Jan 17th 2008 at 5:32 pm EST

excuse my wording -- by "newly-added" I'm assuming Nevada has had caucuses for some years now, and the "newly-added" are the ones created in March, 2007 to help casino workers be able to participate.

I am so old, a year ago counts as recent history.

Re: question | Report to Admin

By Athena Jan 18th 2008 at 11:36 am EST

Phil, Clinton is wrong in what he said. I think more weight is usually given to rural areas in Nevada. Obviously, if the turnout in the casinos is huge, they will account for a larger proportion of voters, but Clinton's allegation that casino voters count five times as much is not borne out by the facts.

Content on blogs in My.BarackObama represents the opinions of community members and in no way should be interpreted as endorsed or approved by the campaign.