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For purposes of initial discussion, I'm calling the two major candidates A and B so I can get unbiased feedback on what I witnessed last night.
Yesterday morning I got a call from a colleague who is active in the campaign of Candidate A, who said no one was in line to serve as chair of my precinct's caucus and asked if I'd do it. It's not how I wanted to spend the evening, but I agreed.
Via email, I got copies of all the rules, procedures, and documents used in the caucuses and spent the day boning up on it all so I would be prepared when the time came.
I got to the polling location around 6:30, and met up with folks connected with Candidate A. A few steps away, a group was gathering for Candidate B. There was a guy in B's group who really stood out--he was nattily attired in a suit and it was obvious he was assuming some sort of leadership role.
Our 'leader' came out of the building and announced the election judge was not going to give out the packets until later and would be using some system of his own to parcel them out to the A and B campaigns.
At about the time the line of voters was finally inside the building, B's group 'handler' herded them all into the building. We followed, and all ended up in an elementary school gymnasium. Once we were inside, it was total chaos. Four different precinct meetings were taking place in there, and the groups for A and B arranged themselves on opposite sides of the gym, reminding me of dodgeball teams from my elementary school days. Both sides then organized themselves by scrawling precinct numbers on candidate posters and holding them up. Candidate B's suit was bustling about giving instructions to his people while we stood around waiting for something to happen.
Finally the precinct packets came out. I don't know who got the rest, but my precinct's packet went to someone from the B campaign. They set up tables and started signing folks in. It soon became obvious to me that they weren't familiar with the process. They were checking photo IDs, which is NOT in the rules, and some guys from the A campaign didn't have any. I convinced the B people that photo ID was not part of the process for people who had proof of having voted after pointing to the rules I had printed up and brought with me.
They were also using the wrong sign-in sheets. When I got to examine the packet, I saw it contained triplicate carbon-paper forms, and they were using the xeroxed copies intended for use if the carbon forms got used up. No real problem there other than it required them to find some way to make two additional copies of the completed 8-1/2' X 14' sheets to turn in.
When the signing in was done, it was obvious again the B people didn't know the procedure. The temporary chair stood up to leave before having done his duty of having a permanent chair elected. The Suit appeared and started taking things over, and I had to explain the temp chair was still in charge, and Suit started trying to get someone elected with the temp chair still standing there. None of this was done by the book; the rules clearly state the Robert's Rules of Order were to be followed, and they were not. I finally got loud and told them to follow the rules, a summary of which was in the packet, and things got a little more organized.
Suit was still hovering around, like some sort of cheerleader. His comments were peppered with "Amen!" and "Halelujah!" although his accent sounded somewhere between "Jak se mas" and "Allahu Akbar"--outsourcing? He was NOT registered in any of the four precincts meeting in that gym, and called himself a "coordinator."
I watched the campaign B people carefully throughout the evening, and everything appeared to be done in a well-meaning, cooperative, and above-board manner, although occasional shouting matches broke out and ineptitude was rampant even with the professional "coordinator" there. It was a great relief once the delegate selection process was over and the few of us who remained turned to approving resolutions. The all passed unanimously except for once calling on Israel to disarm itself of weapons of mass destruction.
I didn't sleep well last night, thinking of all the "wouldas," "shouldas," and "couldas." The guy in the suit creeped me out, although late in the evening he and I shook hands in agreement that the whole "Texas Two-Step" process should be done away with.
Any similar experiences? Any thoughts? Anybody else need a drink?
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