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Re: Hawaii Democratic Caucus - Oahu info
Your posts are very understandable!
The reason your in-laws were told to register on caucus night was because there was a backlog of applications that were being entered into the database but with only a few volunteers to do it, it was slow going. Folks were also told to print the registration form from the website & take it with them to the caucus - in case the sites ran out of forms, which did happen. There were approx. 12,000 more forms printed this time & most sites were provided with double the usual number of forms.
Training was conducted with volunteers and it was pretty good training. We were expecting large numbers of voters but NO ONE could have accurately predicted the number that turned out. This kind of historic voting could not be calculated in advance. It was all guesswork - and the guesswork was too small. Considering the typical voter apathy and small turnout at the caucuses, then extrapolating the numbers out to pure guesswork for this one - we did the best we could.
Volunteers were told during training that we might run out of ballots - which happened at some sites. The site I was at didn't run out. We were told what to do in case we ran out of ballots. The "yellow pieces of paper" were exactly what we were told to do. The important thing is that the number of ballots cast HAD TO MATCH the number of folks who signed in to vote in their precinct. If there were 100 ballots cast, there had to be 100 signatures on the registration sheets. In my precinct, there was one person reading the ballots, one person doing the tally and 2 witnesses. I collected all the ballots and the envelope never left my hands until it was sealed and signed by me at close of evening. Everything was done in a very careful manner to make sure all was correct.
Yes, one of the problems at the caucuses was a lack of volunteers. But again - how could anyone have known how large the turnout would be?
This historic caucus was a learning experience for the Party and for the voters. I'm sure the next time, things will improve in the way they are run. The wonderful thing for me was to see the enthusiasm on people's faces as they stood in those long lines. The satisfaction when they finally got to the table to cast their ballot. It was worth all the chaos, the overheated crowded rooms, the mobs of people coming towards you to cast their ballot. Everything worked itself out in the end and the folks who really wanted to vote stuck it out and made it inside. It took patience and perserverance but.............it worked.
Originally posted by lavagal
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The reason your in-laws were told to register on caucus night was because there was a backlog of applications that were being entered into the database but with only a few volunteers to do it, it was slow going. Folks were also told to print the registration form from the website & take it with them to the caucus - in case the sites ran out of forms, which did happen. There were approx. 12,000 more forms printed this time & most sites were provided with double the usual number of forms.
Training was conducted with volunteers and it was pretty good training. We were expecting large numbers of voters but NO ONE could have accurately predicted the number that turned out. This kind of historic voting could not be calculated in advance. It was all guesswork - and the guesswork was too small. Considering the typical voter apathy and small turnout at the caucuses, then extrapolating the numbers out to pure guesswork for this one - we did the best we could.
Volunteers were told during training that we might run out of ballots - which happened at some sites. The site I was at didn't run out. We were told what to do in case we ran out of ballots. The "yellow pieces of paper" were exactly what we were told to do. The important thing is that the number of ballots cast HAD TO MATCH the number of folks who signed in to vote in their precinct. If there were 100 ballots cast, there had to be 100 signatures on the registration sheets. In my precinct, there was one person reading the ballots, one person doing the tally and 2 witnesses. I collected all the ballots and the envelope never left my hands until it was sealed and signed by me at close of evening. Everything was done in a very careful manner to make sure all was correct.
Yes, one of the problems at the caucuses was a lack of volunteers. But again - how could anyone have known how large the turnout would be?
This historic caucus was a learning experience for the Party and for the voters. I'm sure the next time, things will improve in the way they are run. The wonderful thing for me was to see the enthusiasm on people's faces as they stood in those long lines. The satisfaction when they finally got to the table to cast their ballot. It was worth all the chaos, the overheated crowded rooms, the mobs of people coming towards you to cast their ballot. Everything worked itself out in the end and the folks who really wanted to vote stuck it out and made it inside. It took patience and perserverance but.............it worked.
I gave him such flack for that! Anyway, the Calif. primary probably would've given Pop a heart attack! He would've been beside himself over having to make a decision and his family would be suffering daily bellyaches from laughing at his political banter not to mention his political ignorance which, btw, is genetic! 
Election day would've been a no-brainer for him.
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