Ridiculous caucus experience

[Judge Sam]

I just got back from the worst caucus experience ever. I spent an hour and a half outside in the freezing cold, rain, and sleet and in the end I didn't even get to cast a vote.


The Olathe, Kansas democratic party was expecting about 600 people to show up tonight. 3,000 did, and those that didn't fit into the church were huddled outside the local courthouse. It was 20 degrees, windy, rainy, and sleet started coming in near the end. About 20 minutes after the start time we were herded into one long line and told to sign up to vote. About 7 people were there to sign up about 1,500 people. I was near the end of the line. I stood in line for over an hour as it slowly moved forward. I suppose I should have done what many people did and cut ahead instead of staying with the line.


Finally I arrived at the front of the line and gave them my name and got a black X on my left hand. Finally ready to vote, I head back to the pavilion area just to find that apparently they had just concluded the voting and I would not even get to cast a vote. I asked a guy about it as everyone was leaving and he said "Your vote has been counted," which is funny because I never told anyone who I was even supporting. He said the vote count was 150 for Obama, 100 for Clinton.


I cannot put into words how ridiculous it was. The Kansas Democratic Party could not have bungled it up any more. I can't believe I stood out in the freezing cold for an hour and a half and didn't even have my vote count. Insane.


I am pissed. FUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Summer]

Freedom ain't free!

Or something.

Hopefully Ohio is better prepared come March.

[Sherri]

Yeah heard about the bad whether in the news. But aren't the numbers a but odd? Too clean cut?

[Martha]

sherri said:

Yeah heard about the bad whether in the news. But aren't the numbers a but odd? Too clean cut?

Yeah, and a little low? 1,500 turnout, 250 votes? 1/6 people actually got the chance to cast their vote? That's gotta be wrong...

I really don't know how bad the American voting system is, because, as with everything else, we only hear the bad news. (In other news: Iraq has no standing buildings and everybody there is a militant freedom fighter or terrorist, America is full of gun-toting NRA-member white Christian militants, and most of British youth get their nightly kicks by setting cars on fire. [Actually in many areas around here now that last statement is probably true.]) Ninety nine out of a hundred constituencies - or whatever they're referred to over there, I don't know what the equivalent American term is: caucus? - might go fine, but it's always the one that gets it wrong that makes the news. Doesn't sound like that happened in your case though, Sam.

[Kip]

Well, it's the primaries not the actual presidential election. Not to say they shouldn't be more prepared, because that's a bad job on their part from what Sam says. Not that it mattered, Obama won 75%-25% or something.

[Judge Sam]

I'm not sure what the numbers mean, maybe it was delegates or something.

I sent that letter to 5 different newspapers and the KS democratic party. I also got a comment posted on CNN that was on the top of their comments list on the "I-Report Primary" news story. I got an email back from one of the newspapers saying they'd "try to publish it" which I doubt means anything at all will come from it.

But I am still pissed at how they handled the whole process and will definitely never be attending a caucus ever again, nor helping the democratic party of kansas. Man would I have felt like a dick if the people who I had asked to come with me had come - not only would have I wasted my own time but I would have made them stand out in the freezing cold for two hours to no effect as well.

[Johan]

It's still ridiculous that Americans who WANT to vote aren't getting the opportunity to vote, even in primaries, that's still a pretty big deal. Clinton and Obama are neck and neck, every vote for one of them can have a profound impact on the primaries which will in turn have an impact on the actual election.

[Kip]

Clinton's out if she loses Ohio or Texas on March 4th. And from the recent polls, Obama is starting to pull ahead in Texas, and closing the gap in Ohio.

[Johan]

Yeah... It's looking like an Obama vs Mccain election... Why does my first election I'm eligible to vote in have to suck so bad? :/

[Masaki]

Clearly Trey + anything involving votes = bad luck.

[Sherri]

LOL

Go Hillary ><

[Johan]

masaki said:

Clearly Trey + anything involving votes = bad luck.

Haha hey, this one time I voted for a spy... really, it happened once!

[British Guy]

Personally I'm rooting for Obama. Our British elected leaders (not that anybody ever actually elected our current one, Brown, who's just there because Blair has stepped down) are a bunch of spineless lackeys who will doubtless follow a Republican president into Iran or wherever else the warmongers decide to go, and the absolute last thing we want to see over here is another "dynasty" in America (after the Bushes, the Clintons? No thank you!)

And if you think I'm out of place talking about the American election as a Brit, consider this: two men I went to school with died in a war in Iraq that I protested against, that 70% of this country believed we should never have gotten involved in, that we did get involved in due to the efforts of politicians that I personally didn't vote for, blindly following politicians in America that a majority of Americans didn't vote for either. Somehow the term "waste" doesn't seem to cover it.

I have some sympathy for you guys, because I think for the last three elections at least you've had to choose the "least worst" scenario, rather than the best one. I hope that you get a choice of credible candidates this time around, although I wouldn't say that one has emerged yet. I've been following the election and Obama has impressed me the most - so that's who I'm rooting for. But in the end it's up to those of you in America, not me. I just hope that you have a genuine opportunity to vote for someone who'll make an improvement to your country and it's place in the world this time. If so, it'll probably be the best American election that most of us have lived through.

[Johan]

I'd say the "least worst" scenario has been for the last two elections :/ Bush is uh, not exactly the greatest president ever................... but Gore and Kerry both seemed like idiots too :/ Before that was Clinton though, he was a good President looking back on things since I was sort of young at the time. But this election... Not liking any of the candidates :/ It's going to suck.

Obama is a great speaker, but I think his moving and flowery words lack some of the substance that I'd rather see. He's made the main point of his campaign "change" but I think just about every candidate has been talking of change, just not relying on it as their main platform. Obviously we need some sort of change though..
Hilary worries me because she has taken a few different stances on issues through the years and while she's offered viable explanations on why she changes them, it still bothers me. I think if she was President she'd do things her way but the past few years I've gotten the impression that she's been trying to do what would make her most electable.
McCain is an old lunatic, he's been pretty bad in a lot of the debates. He can't seem to fend off points that other candidates make and obviously that's bad if your President can't do that... I don't think he'd be strong enough to lead this country for four years.
Huckabee I like because he doesn't take everything so seriously and plays in a band, sounds sort of familiar, so I can't say I'd be sad if he were President ;D but he won't be :/

[Judge Sam]

Really? I have the opposite perception. I thought previous presidential elections were pretty dismal (KERRY?!? Who picked him???) and I think this one is promising on both sides. John McCain, Barack Obama, and Hillary Clinton all look like better-than-normal candidates... but then again, it's only February. We still have to listen to 9 straight months of bashing, mudslinging, negative campaigns, accusations of unamericanism, etc. After those 9 months I'll probably hate all of them!


I kinda agree on Gore, but having watched An Inconvenient Truth recently it's changed my opinion on him. Let's face it, if the votes in Florida were actually counted and Bush lost, do you really think he'd be going on a lecture circuit trying to explain concepts of reality to people? Of course not, he'd join some megacorporation as an advisor and make millions of dollars a year, just like every other single Republican politician does when they leave office.



On Huckabee though, he would forcibly quarantine people with AIDS somewhere nasty.

[Johan]

Yeah this year is still about 10,000 times better than the last two years ; D they're better than what there's been in the past but still not quite up to Mofo standards :/

I was kind of hoping early on that Joe Biden and Tom Tancredo would make a run for the nominations of Democrat and Republican, they both seemed like good guys with sensible brains that I'd be able to be happy voting for but that didn't pan out so well :/

Ouch on the Huckabee thing with AIDS, that sucks... :/ Tough to shake the idea of a President you could jam with though ; D

[Masaki]

It iced here so I didn't vote. Barely even made it home.