Friday, February 19, 2016

DFL caucus information, for SD35. [UPDATED - the three SD35 caucus sites plus more info].

Start with this Secretary of State precinct caucus info page; which is NOT party specific.

http://mnvotesinfo.sos.state.mn.us/voters/precinct-caucus/

Key info at the top of that web page:

Minnesota's 2016 Precinct Caucuses - 2016 Caucus Date

The 2016 precinct caucuses will be on Tuesday, March 1 at 7:00 p.m.

Find your caucus location

For Democratic-Farmer-Labor and Republican party caucuses, use the online caucus finder.

[. . .]

(With Zach Phelps' history as an SD 35 Senate candidate, Legal Marijuana Now Party info might be of interest to some, but per that SoS page there is not much helpful info for the LMNP folks. One hopes that some who might be torn between the LMNP and one of the two major parties might decide what is best for them. And good luck.)

The expectation is with Sanders/Clinton on the Democratic Party side, and the odd crowd on the GOP side, caucusing crossover will be minimal.

Leaving Republicans to their own devices, per the above SoS link as a start for them; the DFL caucus finder page is:

https://www.dfl.org/resources/caucus-finder/

Sample output from that caucus-finder, using my zipcode/county, then my address:

click thumbnail to read it

That location, the Ramsey Elementary School, is to be the caucus site for ALL of the SD35 precincts in Ramsey:

click map image to read

From past DFL precinct caucusing practices the expectation would be a general meeting for speeches, etc., and then some form of individualization into like-minded groupings; such as "SINGLE PAYER," "tax reform, everyone paying a fair share," etc.; or some candidate related groupings, with nose counts.

Allocation of delegate advancement to the next caucusing level, would then be worked out, based on such special groupings and their nosecount support levels. Usually there is an extra cycle or two of such groupings/shopping/settling before the next delegate determination is finalized.

That has been a past practice, but party leadership might spring a new set of procedures, hopefully without any rancor or feelings of something jiggered to favor some particular candidacy, for example. Knowing organizers from the past, and presuming continuity, worry over any unfairness of procedures should not be a factor.

Again, from past practice, suggestions for platform planks bottom up from the precinct level would also happen during the caucusing. Those unsure of things should note that the formal starting time of 7:00 pm is preceded by "caucus registration" starting at 6:30 pm, so there will be time to ask questions.

___________IMPORTANT UPDATE____________
Caucus procedures are yet to be finalized, per this SD35 DFL Facebook page screen capture


Once that event is held specifics of caucus procedures to be employed March 1 likely will be set, so this post may be updated accordingly, after the event.

____________FURTHER UPDATE______________
Wes Volkenant has informed me:

There are three caucus sites, depending on voter home address:

All Anoka precincts will meet at Anoka High School [click maps to enlarge and read]


All Ramsey precincts will meet at Ramsey Elementary School [map given in original post]

All Andover and Coon Rapids precincts in HD 35B will meet at Andover High School (that's Andover precincts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10 and Coon Rapids precincts Ward 1 Precinct 1, Ward 1 Precinct 2, and Ward 2 Precinct 1)


FURTHERMORE:
Presidential Preference process
: Everyone attending a caucus shall be able to express a written Presidential preference. It is separate from the caucusing, but in the same room. Presidential preference will be a vote by persons appearing at the DFL precinct meetings, and the result will be shared with the attendees who stay. But no one who votes has to stay to caucus. They can continue to come into the rooms until 8:00 pm, to vote (beginning at 6:30, prior to the actual start of the caucus).

Upon arriving, each attendee needs to register/sign-in at their caucus precinct table itself. A table will be set aside just for the preference voting. After 8:00 preference ballots get tabulated and reported to the precinct then reported to the site coordinator. The three caucus locations will then connect in order to report totals to the State DFL.

Additional caucusing info: Those caucusing shall be voting on possible DFL platform planks, and on delegates for the next convention level. No special rules exist for choosing SD delegates and alternatives. The caucusing managers shall seek equal male-female convention delegate divisions if possible, which would come into play only when the number of attendees wanting to be delegates to the Senate District convention exceeds the number allocated to the precinct. In SD 35 the delegate numbers range from 8 - 24, with about 15-16 on average per precinct.

Those caucusing may choose delegates based on indicated presidential choice of would-be delegates, or based on whatever other criteria the delegate candidates choose to emphasize. There will be a process where caucusing attendees can move about to familiarize themselves with the candidates for the Senate District convention, as a part of the process. The process is, or in the past has been somewhat informally managed.