Harry Reid calls for end to all caucuses

[left-of-center2012]

Former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) called on the Democratic Party to abandon the caucus system on Sunday in a statement released following the caucuses held in his home state. Reid said in a statement that the Nevada Democratic Party "did a good job" with Saturday's caucuses following the chaos in Iowa after its first-in-the-nation contest, while calling on the caucus system to be dropped entirely.

“With so much Democratic enthusiasm in Nevada, demonstrated again by the tremendous caucus turnout this year, I believe we should make the process of selecting our nominee even more accessible," Reid continued, adding: "That’s why I believe it’s time for the Democratic Party to move to primaries everywhere."

The Democratic Party and Iowa's state party in particular came under heavy criticism after the Iowa caucuses ended in confusion, with two campaigns calling for recanvassing efforts in dozens of precincts and no clear winner being declared in the immediate days afterward.

Iowa's state Democratic Party chair later resigned over the confusion, apologizing and taking responsibility for the decision to use an untested app that failed in many precincts on caucus day.

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/484291-harry-reid-calls-for-end-to-all-caucuses

[Kurt V.]

1. yes please.

[Cha]

2. Exactly.. Caucuses aren't Fair to Everyone.

[lapfog_1]

3. You should only be allowed to vote in the Democratic primary

if you registered as a Democrat in the previous general election.

[left-of-center2012]

5. Uh, no

just no

[lapfog_1]

6. we should let Republicans vote in our Democratic primaries

they should be open to anyone that wants to register the day of the primary?

What is wrong with only allowing Democrats to pick our candidates?

[left-of-center2012]

9. Is that how you feel?

Certainly not what I said.

[lapfog_1]

10. you said "no... just no"

which I take to mean "no" to restricting the primary vote to Democrats.

If you say "well, I certainly want to restrict the voting to just Democrats" then please explain your system of doing that.

[brush]

11. Nothing, only there are voter registration drives between elections. Those people(Dems)...

should be able to vote.

[lapfog_1]

12. only if they were too young to vote in the last election

we can't have open registration the day before or even the day of a primary...

It just invites the operation chaos people in.

And I am certain that they exist... to put our heads in the collective sand and say "it doesn't happen!" is just plain wrong.

If you have a different way to only let true Democrats vote in primaries, I am open to other ideas.

[brush]

13. Not advocating open primaries, just that Dems registered after last election be allowed to vote.

[TwilightZone]

8. I would think there are more legitimate party switches

than ones intended to disrupt, so I'd have to disagree with your suggestion. We don't want to lose legitimate R-to-D voters who are switching semi-permanently to try to weed out a few who are trying to mess with the system in one primary or caucus.

[lapfog_1]

17. this would only be for primary

of course anyone can vote in the general... if they really are Democrats, vote Blue no matter Who applies to them as well.

[jmowreader]

16. OR if you were not of voting age when the previous general election happened

[lapfog_1]

20. yes, that's fine. - n/t

[reACTIONary]

19. what does this have to do with caucuses?

[pnwmom]

4. It's about time. nt

[Me.]

7. TRanslated

'even our caucus was/is a mess and it's time to end this election disaster'

[colsohlibgal]

14. Time To Dump Them For Sure

Voting just makes more sense, Harry is correct.

[Sea Turtle]

15. I'm with Harry.

Time to drop them.

[slumcamper]

18. Iowa Caucus Casualty Here--PLEASE END THIS NONSENSE!

I "caucus" in my neighborhood and community.

ENOUGH of this long, drawn-out, complicated, exhausting, and costly process that excludes everyone unless they are able to get in line by 7:00 p.m. on a Monday night, and results in a skewed outcome that reflects only the smallest, activist slice of the local electorate.

What the living fuck, anyway!

LET PEOPLE VOTE.

[BadgerMom]

21. Absolutely.

[oasis]

22. Caucuses are out dated. Period.

get rid of them asap.

[mike507]

23. View from Nevada

I posted this on another caucus thread, but I think it is applicable here:

I live in Nevada, I have participated and worked on three Caucuses; I spent pretty much all of yesterday volunteering at the Nevada Caucus. They may be a bit of a spectacle, they may be an anachronism; but they are not corrupt and I think the Nevada Democratic party made a great effort to give Nevadans a fair platform for having their votes counted.

The strongest criticism of the Caucus process - that they are undemocratic - because they require people to show up at specific time and place and spend several hours to complete the process is fair, however having four days of early voting I think was a reasonable solution. There was an adequate number of polling locations. As to rural voters, I don't mean to sound insensitive, but the realities of life in rural Nevada is: you can be 2+ hours from the nearest supper market, and a frightfully long way from medical care, if you live there, you are used to dealing with inconvenience.

I was a Precinct Chair. After checking people in, I went to my precinct and found the close to 40 people present had rearranged the chairs into a circle and were occupying themselves having a civilized and polite discussion of the candidates and getting to know each other.

The early voting results were added to the votes of the caucus participants before determining viability. During the realignment each group viable or not, was given the opportunity to make the case for their candidate. Only one speaker had any negative comments aimed at other candidates. And no, it was not the Bernie supporter. Nonviable groups knew how many people they need for viability and could have joined together to form a viable group.

During realignment, the preferences from early voting were added to the caucus total. Out of approximately 70 early votes in my precinct 5 ballets had no viable candidates chosen.

Several campaigns had observers in the room and were able to monitor and record the results.

So at the end of the day, groups of neighbors were able to work together to complete a common task.

[Yavin4]

24. Two rounds of primaries.

First round is 4 regional primaries on the same day. Followed by one national primary 90 days later for the top two finishers in each region.

[Indykatie]

25. Either End Caucuses or Move Them to the Very End of Cycle

It's grossly unfair that the candidates' viability is almost set in stone after the first 3 States. This includes 2 caucuses and a 3rd in a very small state that is 93% White. The current primary schedule is an affront to the most loyal Dem voters, African Americans.

[ProfessorPlum]

26. The bad news is progressive candidates like Sanders and Warren can win primaries too

/sarcasm, obviously