Following a long standing tradition here on BMG here is an open thread for people to use to post caucus results. There will be eighteen caucuses around the state today. In each Congressional District there will be a caucus to elect Clinton delegates and a caucus to elect Sanders delegates.
Voting in a presidential primary caucus is an interesting experience for anyone who takes part. It is a great opportunity to network and meet political junkies from throughout your Congressional District. If you are helping on a campaign, it is a fine place for signature collection since everyone is registered as Democrats.
WHAT TO EXPECT
Just a reminder that your vote at the caucus doesn’t change the number of delegates for either candidate, but simply determines which supporters go to Philadelphia.
1) Arrive early. Since it is required that voters be registered Democrats as of February 10, 2016, there is a check-in process that can be time consuming since names are checked against a voter registration list. Parking can become problematic. I hear horror stories of people who thought they left plenty of time and found that they missed the deadline while driving around and trying to find a place to park. Anyone in line as of 1:15 will be registered.
2) Talk to people. Caucuses are fantastic opportunities to meet activists, elected officials and candidates. There is usually some down time during registration and while votes are being counted. These are great opportunities for collecting signatures. Everyone is a registered Democrat!
3) Procedure. Once registration is closed, then the chair will call the meeting to order. After some brief formalities, there is the nomination and election of delegates and alternates. Only those candidates who filed by the registration deadline and who have been approved by the respective candidates are eligible to have their names placed in nomination. A candidate must be present to be nominated, except that can be waived by a 2/3 vote. Candidates are allowed to make up to a two minute speech unless this rule is amended or waived by a 2/3 vote.
4) Voting is by signed written ballot. It is not a secret ballot. Candidates for delegate like to check so that they can thank the people who voted for them. There are separate elections for male delegates, female delegates and in some caucuses an alternate. Election is by majority vote. No dropping of candidates happens until after the second ballot
UPDATE: Thanks to all who posted here. I have pieced this together from information here, news sources and others. I hope I got it right. Please let me know if I misunderstood anyone and got something wrong.
DNC Caucus Results
Clinton
CD 1: M: Calvin McFadden, Alex Morse F: Nicole LaChapelle
CD 2: M: Joe Carlson F: Roberta Goldman, Candy Mero Carlson
CD 3: M: Steve Durkan, Hank Naughton F: Patricia Kirwin-Keilty
CD 4: M: Marc Pacheco, Joe Kaplan F: Martina Jackson Alt: Bryan Barash
CD 5: M: Bob Peters, Russ Ashton F: Norma Shulman, Nazda Alam Alt: Carol Donovan
CD 6: M: Arthur Powell, Drew Russo F: Marilyn Hazel
CD 7: M: Sal DiDomenico, Steve Tompkins F: Ayanna Pressley, Linda Dorcena Forry Alt: Nurys Camargo
CD 8: M: Mike Morrissey, Joseph Sullivan F: Shayna Barnes, Megan Costello
CD 9: M: Antonio Cabral, Tootsie Russell F: Etta Goodstein
Sanders
CD 1: M: Maurice Taylor F: Jossie Valentin, Karen Hansmann F: Dorothy Albrecht
CD 2: M: Norman Khanani, James Bedard F: Homaira Naseem Alt: Peter Corbett
CD 3: M: Jamie Eldridge F: Rosemarie Meissner, Faye Morrison Alt: Roberta Flashman
CD 4: M: Steven Camara F: Christine Crean, Aileen Joachim-L’Etoile
CD 5: M: Michael Gilbreath F: Crystal Moore, Lesley Phillips
CD 6: M: Tristan Whitehouse, Jim Thompson F: Nancy Weinberg, Audrey Thompson Alt: Don Green
CD 7: M: Rand Wilson, F: Kyéra Sterling, Zakiyyah Sutton
CD 8: M: Mike Tafe F: Keri Thompson, Donna Dudek
CD 9: M: Bruce Taub, Steve Leibowitz F: Elizabeth Smith, Catherine Sorenson Alt: Anthony Genovese где лучше взять микрозайм на карту
Also, what is the rationale for a signed ballot in this context, since the caucus is not a representative body?
I am actually unclear on the rationale for a signed ballot in this context. But, it is my understanding that this comes from the DNC, not from the MDP.
Even though a race is uncontested, a caucus needs to be held.
The signed written ballots practice is an application of the more general “no secret ballots” rule set out in Article 9, section 12 of the Democratic Party National Charter (which is the authority quoted where this is addressed in the National Delegate Plan).
At the conventions which are not representative, but just invites any member to participate we were also told thems the rules per the DNC. Still doesn’t answer the question of why such language was put into the charter. FWIW, I would not have interpreted the section of the charter you cite to apply to these caucuses. That seems to apply to the DNC, its subcommittees, and commissions that report to them.
Sorry. And yes, that’s a *very* good question! The rationale as I understand it is that when we’re voting as State Committee members, or even in our ward/town committees, we’re acting as elected officials and therefore need to be accountable to the folks who elected us, Rank-and-file Dems do not need to sign their ballots when voting for state convention delegates, so it is a bit mysterious where this distinction comes from at the national convention level.
…but either whoever drafted the selection plan did or someone at the DNC level handed down such an interpretation. Signing ballots in a representative context is completely understandable, but not when you are acting only on your own behalf. (Once again, TBD downrated my above comment for reasons passing understanding.)
paperwork with signatures are needed. There is also a signed pledge to support the candidate you are voting for. There is also a form for delegates that makes you an official candidate. Signatures, confirming proper registration, the pledge, and a candidate filled out form with 1 sponsor, and 2 seconds require in person attendance. However they are relieved of the 2 minute speeches to press your candidacy. It is a carefully monitored event, and has strict rules. I can tell you all those who became delegates were fully prepared to compete. Marilyn Hazel told several town committee meetings that she was left with hundreds of pens, stickers, and flyers.
Mine did not, and we also defeated a motion to suspend the rules and waive the speeches. I understand the need for the paperwork, but there’s no reason for my vote not to be secret since I was not elected by anyone to attend the caucus. I also think it’s harmless to attend the caucus of the candidate you did not support in order to support someone running for delegate since it doesn’t change the numbers.
Which raises another question.
Why do you have 18 caucuses?
We will have 9. All GOP’s in a Congressional District will converge on the locality. They will announce the number of delegates in the district- say, 3 Trump, 2 Cruz, 1 Rubio, etc. We all then have 12 votes- for each delegate and alternate. The candidates all make their pitch, and the top vote getters become delegates.
Why would you have to choose which CAUCUS to attend? If O’Malley were still in, would you have to hold 24 caucuses??? Doesn’t this balkanization make it even harder to get back together?
…to delegate poaching. We have separate caucuses precisely to avoid that. Yes, O’Malley would also get his own caucuses, at least in districts where he cleared the 15% minimum threshold.
You stand and say – I want to be a delegate for Fred.
You get elected, you are bound on the first ballot. You cannot go there and say, Surprise! I’m voting for Ginger!
What’s to poach? You run for a specific position, not to be a delegate with no commitment
Delegates are bound only for the first ballot. On the second ballot people can vote for whoever they like. At the gop caucus, cruz supporees can elect trump delegates who will vote for cruz on the second ballot. This is happening across the country. The Democratic process means delegates have to choose one caucus or another, making it harder for cruz supporters to choose to go to a Trump delegate caucus, instead of the Cruz Cruz one, and electing delegates favorable to them.
Does the chair first announce that you will first vote for the Trump slate of x delegates, followed by the Kasich slate of y delegates, then the Cruz slate of z delegates, with nobody allowed to try for multiple slates? You made it sound above like you just vote for one slate, the top x of which go who may or may not end up reflecting the outcome of the district.
We know how many slots are available- 3 Fred, 2 Ginger, 1 for Edward Everett Horton. People stand and announce who they are running to represent. We listen to the speeches and cast our vote for who we think would do the best job for their candidate. Ballots are tabulated and the top 3 Fred speakers, etc, become delegates. Same process for alternates.
People who hate each other get elected, people who think they are popular elected officials get snubbed, people who never appeared before but are really sincere get to go.
Your process designating the delegate gender, faith, blood type, and skin color just seems bizarre. What do you do when you have 3 great women for 2 slots, and no man for the third place? Just send an apathetic man who might not spring for the air fair and fees and let the enthusiastic woman stay home all in the name of Procrustian balance?
Not the other things as I assume you know, but we don’t lack candidates for either gender.
I was planning to attend the causus for Hillary, but our Ward committee met yesterday morning, and someone else on my Ward committee was running for a Bernie delegate spot, so I went to Sanders event instead, and signed the paperwork to second his nomination. It was attended by about 60 people and proceed pretty smoothly, except the lists for checking in were sorted by town, then zip code, then ward and precinct, but did not show the ward and precinct on the page, so it would often take four to five minutes for each person to sign in. Fortunately, the chair had the full list of registered Democrats on a laptop computer, so despite sincere efforts by volunteers to check people in, many people had to check in using the computer fallback.
I think the Mass DNC needs to establish standardized sort criteria for town clerks to print the voter registration lists to make them at least somewhat practical.
I was very surprised that they were not sorted by community.
because if I am checking in with a last name of Smith, yes, there are going to be pages of these voter, but even with common first names, there is still the address. Fortunately, my last name is pretty rare outside of the French Canadian sections of New Hampshire, like Nashua. Seriously, I have googled my name, and it mostly comes up with a Roman Catholic Bishop in Maine, a guy who hires himself out as a https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4c_lXPKrzI.
I don’t know what I broke to get this. Seriously, this is not my first time at the Rodeo, I should not be making these simple mistakes.
It allows MA GOP to check your registration and date thereof in advance. Those who show up on the day get checked by computer, but at least it isn’t everybody.
BTW – we require ID (license, passport, etc.) Do you?
We choose not to disenfranchise our party members.
…how?
Or is this just another facet of getting out the Riverside vote?
(A JFK joke, as the Chicago riverside is where the cemeteries are)
…which include names, addresses, and party registration. We do have to occasionally tell someone who thought they were a Dem that they are actually unenrolled.
…in my experience we do advise people to come with ID just in case and most of the kind of person who would show up at these can probably produce one without a problem. Progressivemax made a little more of a blanket statement above than I would have.
We just ask people to prove that they ARE Fred the Republican or Ginger the Democrat with a photo ID.
ALSO, since your caucuses are on different days at different times, don’t you have people trying to attend both? Another example where an ID would be helpful.
Here I thought the hardest problem for caucuses was getting ANYBODY to show up.
I had no idea that voter fraud was such a huge issue for either party.
Perhaps either of you could provide some information to document how many fraudulent would-be caucus voters EITHER party has “protected” itself from with these measures.
I’d be willing to wager a beer at our next Stammtish that about ten legitimate voters have been disenfranchised for every genuine bad-guy that’s been detected or repelled.
We do not check IDs as a routine matter, but when things get this competitive and you start busing people in as some do you have to be extra careful. In fact I’d be more concerned of shenanigans in this context than I would be in a public election.
All 18 of our caucuses began at 1PM on April 9th precisely to keep people from attending more than one. When you sign in that day you are pledging that you support the candidate whose caucus you have chosen to attend.
Male Delegate:
Steven Camara
Female Deleages:
Christine Crean
Aileen Joachim-L’Etoile
Source: Jason Palitsch @JasonPalitsch https://twitter.com/JasonPalitsch/status/718873620248924160
Female:
Roberta Goldman
Candy Mero Carlson
Male:
Joe Carlson
Female:
City Councillor-at-Large Ayanna Pressley
Sen. Linda Dorcena Forry
Male
Sen. Sal DiDomenico
Sheriff Steve Tompkins
for Hillary Clinton delegates.
Male Delegate
Sen. Marc R. Pacheco
Joe Kaplan
Female Delegate:
Martina Jackson
Male Alternate:
Bryan Barash
Source:
Twitter Zachary Agush @zagush https://twitter.com/zagush/status/718870302588080128
Norma Shulman, Robert Peters, Russ Ashton and Nazda Alam
I don’t know which one is an alternate.
Carol Donovan also elected as female alternate in CD 5.
😛
They elected 4 delegates in this seat Carol Donovan as an alternate.
Crystal Moore, Lesley Phillips, Michael Gilbreath
Did I hear correctly that there was only one ballot each for this? If so, I’m jealous!
One ballot and the entire CD5 Dream Team slate won! That’s organization for you!
CD 4 Sanders was elected with one ballot as well.
SANDERS – Jamie Eldridge, Roberta Flashman (Alternate), Rosemarie Meissner, and Faye Morrison (per Jamie’s FB feed)
CLINTON – James Durkin, Hank Naughton, and Patricia Kirwin-Keilty (I was there.)
NB: The first Clinton delegate for CD 3 is James Durkin, where you list him as Steve Durkan.
Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey, Braintree Mayor Joseph Sullivan, Shayna Barnes and Megan Costello were just elected Democratic Party National Convention delegates pledged to Hillary Clinton at the 8th Congressional District Caucus at Quincy High School today.
.
Mike Tafe, Donna Dudnik and my good friend Keri Thompson. Keri is a professor at Emerson in political communication and has done a great job teaching her students about the primary process and getting them involved. She even inspired some of them to run as delegates themselves. Her snap chats on the Iowa caucuses got over a 100,000 views and reached even more young people than her class. I’m really happy she won this.
Anthony Genovese was elected as male alternate for Sanders in CD 9 and the name is Leibowitz, as Leibowtiz would be even harder to pronounce 🙂 .
Appreciate getting that alternate’s name. Fixed your name and had to laugh. Talk soon. See you on May 7, Kate