Below you’ll find the materials from LAD’s “Caucus 101: Laying the Grassroots Groundwork for 2024” presented on March 6, 2024, as well as resources for Caucus. This is not a training, per se, but an overview of why we caucus, how caucus fits into our election year, etc.
We will update this page with answers to your questions about caucus (at the end of the presentation), and any other items and links that we hope will be helpful to you as you navigate the caucus process. You can send your questions to longmontareadems@gmail.com
VOLUNTEERS ARE NEEDED AT CAUCUS! Contact the Boulder County Democratic Party at info@bocodems.org
THANK YOU FOR YOUR PARTICIPATION IN OUR DEMOCRACY!
OTHER RESOURCE LINKS —
The Boulder County Democratic Party (BCDP) Caucus Information pages:
2024 Caucus Information
FIND YOUR CAUCUS SUPERSITE & PRECINCT INFO — MAKE NOTE OF YOUR DISTRICTS!
(THESE ARE QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ABOUT THE 2020 CAUCUS. Candidate races will differ depending on the year, but there might be other info here that is helpful):
1) I don’t understand how the results of the two primary ballots relate to the selection of delegates to the conventions and assemblies.
Answer: The results of the Colorado Presidential primary are figured on percentages of the vote for each Presidential candidate in the Primary. Those percentages are then applied to delegate #s for each Presidential candidate as they go through the County Assemblies/Conventions and onto the State Assembly and Convention.
The results of the June Primary are final. The purpose of Senate and down ballot candidates (example: State House districts, State Senate Districts, County Commissioner etc) in going through Caucus is meeting the required threshold of Caucus votes to get on the Primary ballot. Some down ballot candidates are trying to get on the ballot through petitioning on only. A specific number of valid signatures are required to get on the ballot through petition.
2)I know we select delegates for the county assembly and state assemblies based on Senate candidate preference, but I don’t know exactly how that impacts the state primary and the selection of delegates for the National Convention. How does the result of the presidential candidate primary fit with selection of delegates? Thanks for your help to explain this to me.
Answer: Voting for your choice of Senate candidates at Caucus is the first step for them to get on the June Primary ballot. The Caucus vote only includes the Senate candidates that are going through the Caucus process. There are only 5 Senate candidates (Hickenlooper, Romanoff, Spaulding, Underwood and Zornio) who are going through Caucus. The other Senate candidates are petitioning onto the June 30th ballot. They have a deadline to turn in a certain number of valid signatures to make it on the ballot. Caucus goers can run to be a delegate for one of those 5 Senate candidates. (It is an election in your precinct small, or “breakout” meetings). The voting process for each Senate candidate in the Caucus must reach a threshold % to continue onto each step (ie County Caucus, County Assembly and Convention and finally State Assembly and Convention.) Delegates for Senate candidates go on through the process to be a delegate for their choice of Presidential candidate at the County Assembly and Convention and finally the State level convention. To reach the DNC, convention delegates have to run a campaign themselves and be elected by the State Convention members to go to the National Convention. At the National Convention the delegates for each Presidential candidate vote and it may take several votes to reach a final Democratic candidate choice for President — who will then run against Donald Trump nationally.
3)What does a Precinct Leader do?
Answer: Precinct Leaders are part of The Boulder County Democratic Party (BCDP)’s Field Team, and their objective is to help elect Democrats on all parts of the ballot. The main thing a Precinct Leader does is GOTV (Get Out the Vote) by dropping BCDP Voter Guides — not to be confused with the state’s blue book — for General and midterm elections, at the same time that ballots are mailed to voters (drop, no knock) — usually 2 weeks before Election Day. “Unwalkable” precincts (rural and mountain areas) have the voter guide mailed to them. The Voter Guide drop is followed by dropping “Vote Notes” at doors (taped to doors with blue painter’s tape, no knocking required) closer to Election Day, which nudges those last voters to drop off their ballots (the Vote Notes have ballot drop-off locations listed, because at that point it’s too late to mail). The time before these GOTV projects is spent recruiting volunteers in your neighborhood to help you make those drops, getting to know the VAN (Voter Access Network) database, with trainings for all of this provided by the Boulder County Democratic Party.
NOTE: If you are not interested in being a Precinct Leader yourself, please find out who your Precinct Leader is, and offer to help. Two hours on a weekend can make a tremendous difference! You can look up your precinct leader, here.
(you’re at longmontdems.org)
email: longmontareadems@gmail.com
facebook: Longmont Area Democrats
twitter: @LongmontDems
