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Spitfire of ATJ

(32,723 posts)
Sat Feb 20, 2016, 11:41 PM Feb 2016

Inside a Nevada Caucus

Mine was held at a high school gym. Long line outside with what looked like an even split of Hillary and Bernie logos. I was the ONLY one with the classic "Feel the Bern" light blue political revolution t-shirt. A couple of young women had on the newer dark blue.

The people running it couldn't be heard. We settle around into a group around tables and fill out our "ballots" then hold them up as they do a count by walking around the table. This gives the total number of delegates for our district.

About then someone in a neighboring group explodes, "This is BULLSHIT!!! Where are the voting machines?!?!!!" and storms out.

Thought of a hashtag #WhereAreTheVotingMachines with this:



or this:



Anyway,...everyone is told all of the Bernie people on one side and all of the Hillary people on the other. Another count within each group. Bernie outnumbers Hillary by 2.

One undecided.

(Hans Solo "This is where the fun begins" moment)

About a dozen Hillary supporters attack the guy for 5 minutes. They're PISSED OFF!!! "Are you a loyal Democrat?" "Do you have something against a woman in authority?" "You have to or the Republicans will win!" Pick Hillary! You can't lose!

The first Bernie supporter, a woman, talks to the guy and in 45 seconds he's voting Bernie. I asked him and the main thing was the idea that Hillary could be indicted in the email investigation. I told him I was going to point out that Bernie has been in politics for a long time and in all that time he hasn't made any enemies. That's rare.

Final count is Bernie 52 Hillary 48 as a few Hillary supporters defect. The rest leave ANGRY before they get the chance to sign up as delegates.

I signed up as an alternate for Bernie.

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Inside a Nevada Caucus (Original Post) Spitfire of ATJ Feb 2016 OP
The Hillary supporters trying to attract a voter with fear mongering and threats? retrowire Feb 2016 #1
Sounds like it was a bracing experience! :) Babel_17 Feb 2016 #2
At one point a Hillary supporter told a Bernie supporter to "get a job". Spitfire of ATJ Feb 2016 #7
Taking our party back isn't a job? :) Babel_17 Feb 2016 #8
What a clusterfuck- LiberalElite Feb 2016 #3
They really need to use plastic megaphones like these... Spitfire of ATJ Feb 2016 #6
Thank you for caucusing! And voting for Bernie! in_cog_ni_to Feb 2016 #4
Thank you for reporting this out for us nashville_brook Feb 2016 #5
my precinct experience in Northern Nevada Nevada Blue Feb 2016 #9
We had 5 precincts in a high school gym.... Spitfire of ATJ Feb 2016 #10

Nevada Blue

(130 posts)
9. my precinct experience in Northern Nevada
Sun Feb 21, 2016, 03:11 PM
Feb 2016

Our total precinct count was 85. Not bad for a working class area in a service economy where far too many people had to work on Saturday.

The caucus started late. There was some confusion (other precincts were also caucusing at the same location, so the entire group was much larger than our 85) at the beginning, could have been avoided by having signage up indicating 'register to vote in this line', 'pre-registration here', 'registration here' and thereby dividing the masses up earlier in the process.

We did have to wait about 30 extra minutes but they let everyone in that was waiting outside. We also had to wait for the Precinct Chair to arrive.

Once he got there we all dispensed quickly with a lot of the call to order'ish stuff and organized into our two groups. Out of 85 we had only one undecided voter. She ultimately went over to the Hillary side.

BUT the final tally was 62 Bernie, 23 Hillary, which gave us 9 delegates to her 3. We were home by 1:30.

Everyone was polite and helpful to each other and during our wait in line, we all were in accord: vote for your preferred candidate today, but in November VOTE BLUE.

It was my first caucus. I don't approve of the process because it is exclusionary to all who have to work and in Nevada people are always working - often at odd hours. But it was not a rough and tumble, overly chaotic experience. However, from what I'm hearing, I am glad I live in the north and not in Vegas. Sounds like the experience was quite different in some precincts there.

 

Spitfire of ATJ

(32,723 posts)
10. We had 5 precincts in a high school gym....
Sun Feb 21, 2016, 03:24 PM
Feb 2016

I was approached repeatedly mistaken for a member of the Bernie campaign. I'm guessing because I'm tall and was on my feet a lot. As our group expanded I suggested we expand our setup with more tables and chairs. They had extras off to the side.

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