Politics starts at the local caucus

We will elect the new president of the United States this year and you have the opportunity to be a factor in who the nominee will be for the party of your choice. Every political party will have caucuses throughout the atate of Washington in the next two months and unfortunately many people voting do not understand the power of attending a local precinct caucus. In our state we will eventually elect delegates to represent your party at a national convention to nominate the candidate of your choice to be the nominee for president of the United States. This starts at the local caucus in your neighborhood.

To attend a local caucus you first need to know the precinct you are in. You can do this by either calling the heads of your local party (they both have web sites) or calling the County Auditor’s Office. Once you know the precinct you are in the next step will be to find out the time, date and place of where the caucus will meet. Usually the local newspaper will list these a few weeks prior to the caucus. In the event you want to know prior to this being published, contact your local party heads and they will give you the information.

At the caucus the precinct Chair (known as the PCO – Precinct Committee Officer) will call the meeting to order and all in attendance will usually elect a permanent Chair to run the meeting and

also elect a permanent secretary to record the event. After opening discussions about candidates or other issues (which is sometimes lengthy), the chair will then ask for nominations for delegates to the County Convention. The people in attendance will then elect the delegates and alternates. When that is complete the caucus will be adjourned. The chair will forward the elected delegates and alternates to the parties’ county officials.

(The process could be a bit different, depending on the political party.)

The delegates elected will then attend the County Convention who will elect delegates to the State Convention and the State Convention will elect delegates for the National Convention who will elect the nominee for their choice to run for president of the United States.

In my opinion, this is the grassroots of our political system to nominate the parties’ choice for president of the United States. The caucuses can be different for each state, but this is normally the way it proceeds in Washington state.

So, if you want a choice in whom you want nominated from your party to run for president of the United States, this is your opportunity to be a voice. It is one of the few we have except for the actual voting for president, but at that time it is usually down to one candidate for each party.

I urge each of you, no matter your political affiliation, to attend your local caucus.

Sid Gregory

Moses Lake