PORT TOWNSEND — The North Olympic Peninsula’s major political party chairmen all report high interest in this year’s presidential campaign and expect significant local involvement in the parties’ decision-making process.
“We are expecting a big turnout,” Jefferson County Democratic Party Chair Bruce Cowan said of his party’s March 26 caucus.
“There is a lot of excitement around both candidates [Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton], and this is the only chance Democrats have to express a presidential preference.”
In a presidential election, states mostly use either primaries or caucuses to choose convention delegates, but Washington has both.
A caucus involves community meetings where attendees publicly select delegates to move on to the next level of presidential candidate selection, whereas a primary includes a private vote on a specific day in order to choose convention delegates.
An explanation on the Washington Secretary of State’s website at www.sos.wa.gov says that parties run caucuses and governments run primaries.
Washington state does not register voters by party and follows a “top two” system, which uses the primary to narrow the choice to two candidates regardless of party.
This changes for the May 24 presidential primary, which requires party voters to choose one candidate and sign a declaration committing to that candidate’s political party.
Caucus system
Thirteen states and two territories use the caucus system to determine which Republican and Democratic presidential candidates their delegates will support in the nomination process.
All caucuses provide the opportunity for candidate supporters to speak before an open vote occurs, and all require voters to sign a statement that they are not participating in any other party’s caucus.
In Washington, Democrats and Republicans have different rules: Democrats select convention delegates at the caucus level while a Republican delegate preference is determined by presidential primary results.
National conventions
Delegates at both national conventions have a designated candidate preference which is mandatory only during the first convention ballot.
Clallam County Republican Chairman Dick Pilling said his party’s Feb. 20 caucus provides attendees the opportunity to discuss their candidate preferences and elect delegates, although commitment to Republican candidates will be determined at the May 24 presidential primary.
Since Democrats select candidate preference at the caucus level, Washington’s Democratic presidential primary is substantially a “beauty contest,” Cowan said.
Democrats in both counties will caucus at several locations, with the most important aspect being to go to the correct location determined by street address and listed on each county’s party website.
Republicans in both counties have a “pooled” caucus with the location determined by the city of residence.
In Clallam, Republicans will meet in Sequim, Port Angeles and Forks, while in Jefferson County, events will occur in Port Townsend, Chimacum, Port Ludlow and Quilcene.
March 26 caucus
Clallam County Democratic Chair Roger Fight expects a large turnout at the March 26 caucus “unless something happens to decide the race before then.”
Fight said there is “a lot of grassroots support” for Sanders but there is also widespread support for Clinton.
Cowan said that Jefferson County is a Sanders stronghold, but Clinton’s local campaign is well organized.
“There is no way to know the turnout before people turn out,” Pilling said.
Jefferson County Republican Chairman Steve Crosby said he doesn’t know which candidate local party members prefer as the only straw poll took place in August at the county fair when Carly Fiorina drew the most votes.
While voting by mail can be a passive act, caucuses get people involved in their choice, according to Cowan.
“Caucuses force people to come out of their houses, talk to each other about the issues and their reasons for supporting a specific candidate,” he said.
“We hope the discussions will be respectful because negative dialogue is never very persuasive.”
Information about the specific time, place and rules of caucusing are available on party websites: Jefferson County Democrats, www.jeffcodemocrats.com; Jefferson County Republicans, www.JeffGOP.com; Clallam County Democrats, www.clallamdemocrats.org; and Clallam County Republicans, www.clallamrepublicans.org.
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Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
