Iowa Caucus Captains or Co-Captains

[kelligesq]

please contact me by private DU e mail if you were a Caucus Captain or Co-Captain

and took notice of irregularities at your caucus, such as strange people bused

into the caucus, people not signing in, unknown if people registered to vote,

no ID, people being paid to caucus, anything that you found odd.

There are many reports of this going on at the Iowa caucuses and the Washington

caucuses also.

Let's put a stop to our elections being corrupted.

[pstans]

1. I was a precinct captain and my caucus ran smoothly

There were a couple people that weren't sure if they were in the right precinct, but that was all figured out and if they weren't then we sent them to the auditorium (we were in the cafeteria). Other than that, the caucus ran pretty smoothly. From talking to others in my county who were precinct captains, they had similar experiences. It was great to see so many people come out for a neighborhood caucus and participate in democracy at its finest.

[Debi]

2. Nope, no problems at our caucus (unless you count 3x the amount of attendees from 2004 a problem)

Nice swipe at the Obama campaign, though. Not very classy.

[Bluzmann57]

3. At our caucus, everything went smoothly

I was the one and only Dodd rep, I was sick, and they still let me speak my piece,the second time around, I went for another candidate and it all worked out. See, that's the way a caucus works. Everyone gets a chance to say their piece and then things move forward. No irregularities at our caucus. Quite frankly, I'm getting tired of all the allegations of wrongdoing. If you ain't there, then you shouldn't comment. Or at least you should have EVIDENCE of what you are alleging.
FYI, Hillary Clinton won our precint. Just sayin'.

[Cairycat]

4. everything went very smoothly at my caucus

we had about a 70% increase in attendance.

Most people at my caucus seemed to know other people there ... students greeting professors, because both live in the neighborhood, things like that.

People seemed pretty patient with the proceedings ... I think people realized the turnout was even greater than the increases predicted.

[Hardrada]

5. We had no problems in our community.

Nothing irregular. The lines were long but all went smoothly in our caucus since we adjusted to the circumstances.

[rurallib]

6. We had no real problems

The few people I didn't know were known by people that I did know and trust. The biggest problem was simply logistics. Even though we planned for a huge turnout, it was even bigger than anticipated.
This was the second caucus I was in charge if and I believe the sixth I have been to.
Good luck on your witch hunt, but I believe you will find Iowa Dems pretty honest. For some snakey stuff you may want to check with those who ran the Iowa Republican caucuses. I can give you our local guy's phone #. I mean honestly, how could Huckleberry win?

[IADEMO2004]

7. The Iowa forum has been asked to deliver scandal in secret

Looks like we failed.

[Debi]

9. Maybe all the 'other' Iowans are PMing the OP right now!

x(

[IADEMO2004]

10. stop with the negative vibes

[Debi]

12. Can't help it

When a stranger comes to the Iowa Forum and attacks not only our process but declares that there was cheating and shenanigans involved I don't feel like giving them a big hug.

If you were involved in a caucus where folks broke the rules (and the law) please, don't just PM an anonymous poster - but call the IDP, people who broke the rules and the law should be prosecuted for doing so. It's the only way to keep the process clean and fair.

Don't you agree?

The arguments in the OP are arguments that one campaign made against another during the buildup to the caucuses here in Iowa (no matter that ID's weren't a necessary part of the sign in process) (no matter that out of state Iowa college students are legally allowed to register and participate in the caucus process) (no matter that the 'vote' count has to equal the amount of folks signed into the caucuses) Better to create a false fear - a shadow of doubt - anything to tear down the caucuses to create an argument against them.

Search some of the OP's other posts - going from group to group with one purpose - discredit the caucuses and get rid of them. (did you read the posts about college students being paid $250.00 to caucus? Or folks from out of state showing up claiming to be college students but nobody knowing them?) That's only a couple of the conversations coming from non-Iowans to bolster the OP's position.

[IADEMO2004]

13. Yes I do

In my small caucus I know most everyone and they are all above average.

[haroldgiowa]

19. BBV involed?

My first thought when I read this post, went back to a post prior to the caucuses. Someone posted a snip from BBV asking for monitors to watch our caucuses.

[Debi]

22. Oh God

:banghead:

I trust Iowa caucus-goers WAY more than I trust Bev Harris!

[DU9598]

8. No problems to report

We even had celebraties at our caucus site from the national media. The only unusual thing was that Obama had more people show up in 2008 than we had for all participants in 2004. No people were bussed in or were from outside our neighborhood.

I would be curious to hear of these "many reports" ... in most instances all I hear are sour grapes. I was an Edwards supporter, but Obama won my precinct fair and square.

[justgamma]

11. No problems at mine.

Maybe a little overcrowded with lots of enthusiastic people. We had a couple of observers, other than that everyone knew everybody else.

You do realize that these are neighborhood events? Busloads of strangers would definately be noticeable.

If you're not signed in you can't vote. The vote totals must equal the registered voters.

[Vet31203]

14. Ames- Scheman Center

Very busy, but went smoothly.

William J Meyers For House 2008

[mruddy]

15. No real problems

The turnout was probably 3 times that of 2004. I was the Edwards precinct captain in my very rural precinct. There were lots of people I didn't know but our precinct area encompasses many miles. It was great to see many young people in attendance but they were fairly equally distributed among Edwards, Clinton, and Obama.

The only problems encountered: not enough parking, the time it took to get everyone registered, and about 45 minutes of arguing with the caucus co-chair on the assigning of delegates - she didn't understand the rules/formulas.

[cyberswede]

16. Our caucus went well

It was crowded, but people were patient. Lots of enthusiasm in the room.

Nobody was bused in - you caucus with your NEIGHBORS, for pete's sake.

If people didn't sign in, they couldn't be counted - the numbers have to match. Participants not already on the list of registered voters in the precinct are required to fill out 2 forms: a new voter form and a voter registration form. Fraudulently completing a voter registration form is illegal and carries a hefty fine.

People paid to caucus? Come on :rofl:

Oh wait - we DID allow the doors to remain open an extra 5 minutes, because some attendees had to park several blocks away, due to the huge turnout. Does that count as an irregularity? ;)

There's nothing corrupt about a caucus. It's completely open and transparent - everyone in the room can see what is going on, and representatives for each candidate are involved in verifying the numbers that are reported.

I find your claim that there are "many reports" of irregularities going on in Iowa to be spurious, at best.

[9119495]

17. No problems at mine either...but

two Obama people had their nametags fall off and they were needed to be included in the count. One was found (the toddler had ripped it off while being held). The other one was not so we had one lost Obama vote. It did not effect the outcome of the delegate count so we moved on.

Turnout was doubled and awesome.

The only people I've heard complain came from a losing group someone supposedly worked in during this year's caucuses. Though that person has never been to the Iowa forum even though we are a swell bunch of folks. I'd say that (not any of the caucuses) were irregular.

Also, how do you park a bus in a clandestine manner? Everyone has to be on the list for the precinct before they are let in. Why take a bus four blocks anyway?

[CornField]

18. Irregularities at my caucus...

Sure, there were things that could be considered irregular. For instance, because we were expecting such large turn-outs, we had two precincts splitting a gymnasium at the middle school. Although the state party had made estimates regarding turn-out, the estimates were a dismal failure. Every county in Iowa had somewhere between a 50% to 170% increase in caucus attendees.

At my caucus in particular, we had people who had never been involved in the county party previously, greeting people as they walked in the door. We had young people, who typically just come to observe, actually pointing people into the right sign-in lines. Can you imagine?! People who had never been excited or involved in politics thinking that they could just fill a role like that?!

[cyberswede]

20. *snerk* n/t

[Debi]

23. Next thing you know people under 30 will be running for office - - - and WINNING!

:wow: the horrors!

[rurallib]

25. Here's hoping Alisha Gayman wins again

speaking of under 30. I helped give a presentation with her last fall. She is so nice!

[Debi]

26. Andrew Wenthe is another one!

worked for John Edwards and then the IDP in 2004 (heck, Edwards came to Andrew's campaign kick-off!)the worked for State Senator Jeff Danielson in Des Moines. Defeated the incumbent republican rep in House District 18.


(Andrew's on the left..;))

[4dsc]

21. No problem to report here

Other than former President Clinton showing up at my caucus, I have nothing abby normal to report..

[IA_Seth]

24. Huge problems here..

First of all, the Clinton people brought (gasp) FOOD, as did those damn Edwards supporters. Lord knows we were told not to allow food. Being the hard ass that I am, as caucus chair, I allowed anyone that wanted to bring food to bring it in - so long as they shared with everyone. I am pretty sure everyone complied, and I don't think anyone was swayed over a sub sandwich, a peanut butter cookie, or a pop... I could be wrong.

Secondly, we had way too many people there. It was like they thought this process was important or something. We had students, young adults, mid-life crisis-ees, and old farts all trying to rush my lines and get in the doors. I tried telling them that there voices were not important, but the bastards didnt listen. I think there ended up being like twice as many people as we thought we'd have.

So yeah, there were some strange people - but I am not sure they were bussed in? There were people that didnt sign in right away - but it was because they were new and didn't know. I wish I was paid.

Oh, and the no ID part. Since when do you need an ID to register to vote at a caucus location. Duh.

[Debi]

27. Seth....

:yourock:

[Judge_Mental]

28. Smooth as silk here.

It ran like a fine timepiece.

[Khaotic]

29. Scout County D23 ...

Went very well :-)

I was the precinct chair and while a turnout of 238 people was overwhelming, it went well.

It felt like ... Democracy!