Drama at my Maine Dem Caucus today

[jpak]

Last edited Mon Mar 7, 2016, 01:26 AM - Edit history (1)

When the voting began, the absentee ballots were counted - 25 for Hillary, 6 for Bernie

When the attendees were counted and added to the absentees, 52 went for Hillary and 51 went for Bernie

2 people were uncommitted.

The floor was opened for speechifying to swing the 2 undecideds.

A very young man spoke eloquently for Hillary.

2 people gave very passionate speeches for Bernie.

The two undecided caucused for Bernie!

Final vote 53 Bernie, 52 Hillary - they both got 6 delegates to the state convention.

Excitement.

yup

on edit - and mike drop for the speechifyers

[Nanjeanne]

1. She's killing it on the absentee ballots. Her campaign really must have worked hard on that!

[PonyUp]

9. Makes you wonder how she's "killing it". nt

[brooklynite]

17. I'd alert on a baseless allegation of vote rigging, but what would be the point?

[Mbrow]

21. your right,

That is baseless, But what bill did in Mass sure the hell is not baseless.

[ThePhilosopher04]

23. It's not "baseless." The mere fact that the count was 25-6 is plenty enough to raise suspicion.

You should be skeptical yourself.

[rpannier]

29. Disagree

More conservative, older people and people that travel a lot tend to vote absentee in larger numbers than younger people
It's not unreasonable to figure that 25 out of 31 voted for HRC

[mhatrw]

36. Also, it's a lot easier to cheat in a caucus via absentee ballots. nt

[Gore1FL]

35. Exactly, there are plenty of other posts for you to alert troll to greater effect.

Why take a chance on a 7-0 Keep it?

[Matariki]

38. +1

Seriously. I would expect the absentee ballots to reflect the proportions of the in-person votes in a community.

[alcibiades_mystery]

2. Awesome!

Deliberative democracy at work.

Some people don't like the idea of a caucus, but I think they're really interesting: up on the hustings, stating your case. It recalls the days of public oratory.

(As a Hillary supporter, I love those numbers, too. I think it's possible Hillary will not be viable in Maine and all 30 delegates will go to Bernie. Nice to see her holding even!. Cheers, and congrats on all the hard work to the Sanders people in Maine!)

[morningfog]

3. I think it is only 25 pledged delegates.

[alcibiades_mystery]

5. All 25 pledged delegates

Thanks for the correction. I think it's possible all 25 delegates will go to Bernie, giving him a positive net delegates for the weekend (making up - what? - about 10% of the pledged delegate deficit).

[Gregorian]

4. Thanks for the great inside info.

I've been waiting to hear a report on the actual commitment of an undecided voter. Wow!

[GreenPartyVoter]

6. Phew! Yeah, those absentee ballots seem to be very Hillary heavy today.

[jpak]

7. The Hillary folks did a good job with the abseentees

The Bernie folks scarfed up all the free Bernie signs and bumper stickers before I could get one.

Socialists...

[SheilaT]

8. I'm really puzzled by the absentee ballots at a caucus.

They've been reported in other caucus states. I thought the entire point of a caucus was that you showed up in person.

[jwirr]

12. The is the purpose but it disenfranchises a lot of voters. Any

one who is working cannot vote. Anyone who is travelling cannot vote. Anyone who is sick cannot vote. That is a lot of voters to ignore.

In our caucus my friend and I proposed a change to our state laws that would allow absentee ballots. I had three family members who had to work.

[jpak]

14. Our Maine caucuses are on Sundays and we have absentee votes

I drove in a major snowstorm to caucus for Obama in 2008.

Almost didn't get home...

It's Maine

It's what we do...

[jwirr]

16. Even on Sunday mine kids would not be able to vote - they

are healthcare providers.

[nadinbrzezinski]

20. The legislature is starting to talk primaries again

Boston Globe has that on their blog, fact is, this high historic turnouts.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2016/03/06/amid-long-lines-maine-senate-democratic-leader-wants-primaries-back/qUXIRu9Brzs3m1Eu585iBO/story.html?s_campaign=bostonglobe%3Asocialflow%3Atwitter

By the way, they are quoting the AP

[Lucinda]

24. Thank you for supporting that!

So many more people will be able to participate if your state goes for it!

[DCBob]

10. That's a victory for Hillary if its that close.

[jpak]

11. I don't know about that

At my caucus, we had 3 towns participating at the venue.

I don't know the results of the other 2 towns, but media reports from other towns suggest a win for Bernie in Maine.

[DCBob]

13. If its not a huge win for Bernie then Hillary campaign will consider it a victory.

Maine is prime Bernie territory.

[jpak]

15. We will see

[nadinbrzezinski]

19. Not official

but some have been posted online and this is not even close

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_zUMNczSh1swhKXA68otMdFaRdl3xjBG4-91vv3ApIw/htmlview?sle=true#

[TrueDemVA]

25. Absentee ballots need to be checked

I mean come on. How is it that some many in these districts show up to caucus, but somehow the absentee ballots are so skewed the opposite way. Seems fishy.

[jpak]

27. Maybe the Hillary folks were better organized than the Bernie folks

That's my take...

[mhatrw]

37. Yeah, that's the ticket. More organized. That's why Clinton lost more than 2-1 when you don't count

the absentee xeroxes.

[jpak]

39. I'm sorry, but here in the ME we practice we 1776 democracy

Xerox is so 1969

The Hillary campaign did a good job here and so did Bernie...

yup

[CoffeeCat]

40. LOL! Yes, Hillary's colossal Maine campaign effort!

What kind of campaign could you run that would produce terrible results in the actual caucus (you lose by 30 points) but give you the absentee voters?

Did she even have offices in Maine?

Did she run ads there?

She most likely didn't have a campaign presence in Maine.

[AtomicKitten]

18. I love happy endings. Thanks for reporting. k/r

[mountain grammy]

22. The grass roots are speaking..

hear them?

[Historic NY]

26. Very Good reporting

[nadinbrzezinski]

28. and now it is official

DEMOCRATS

Statewide results
442/593 precincts (74.5%) reporting
Bernie Sanders
1,935
63.8%
Hillary Clinton
1,091
36.0%
3,032 total votes

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2016/mar/06/maine-democratic-caucuses-results-map-clinton-sanders

Guardian called it

[jpak]

30. Thanks Nadin!

[nadinbrzezinski]

32. Hey, I follow the delegate count

not the state count..but the MSM virtual blackout is going to be in the write up in the morning.

[Iwillnevergiveup]

31. Am I seeing right?

Bernie took every precinct??

WOW!

[nadinbrzezinski]

33. You are

[jpak]

34. WOW - at my caucus we had 3 towns there

They all had to caucus at different venues in the high school.

Didn't know how they voted...