Nevada’s caucuses, part 1

Things are about to get a lot more political here in Nevada. The caucus season is officially in full swing, and here in Nevada both the Republicans and the Democrats will hold their official nominating caucuses.

The Nevada Republican caucus will take place on Feb. 4 after Iowa’s caucus, New Hampshire’s primary, South Carolina’s primary and Florida’s primary. The Nevada Democrats will caucus on Jan. 21.

Nevada is new to the early caucus process, first coming into prominence in 2008 when the Democrats shifted us into the third overall spot and the first in the West. The Democrats justified this move for several reasons. The main reason is the American Southwest had been growing at the fastest rate in the country, and we were not receiving fair representation in the presidential nominating process. Nevada has the fastest growing Hispanic population in the country, a group that also deserves to have a voice in the process. Nevada is a state with a small population and few electoral votes, and this was also taken into account when shifting the caucuses. The overarching reason for selecting a state in the West, ultimately Nevada, was so that each of the four regions of the country, the South, West, Midwest and Northeast had a say in the process before Super Tuesday.

Our caucus is different than a primary in that a great deal of party business is conducted, as opposed to a simple vote, like a primary. In addition to the presidential preference poll, caucuses are used to elect delegates to the county convention, nominate new members to the central committee, and perhaps most importantly, this is where party platform recommendations can be made. “Anyone who is interested in actually changing the direction of the party, this is the way to get into that smoke-filled back room,” says Orrin Johnson, prominent conservative blogger and Republican caucus organizer.

During the actual caucus portion of the precinct meeting, participants conduct debates about their preferred presidential candidates and then cast votes for their preferred presidential candidate. These votes are tallied statewide.

Nevada’s Republican caucus is both binding and proportional, meaning the delegates elected to attend the Republican National Convention in Florida are bound to vote for the presidential candidates in the same proportion as the February caucus vote.

The Democrat caucus process is almost identical to the Republican one, and although it is all but decided that Barack Obama will be the Democrat nominee, it is still important for Democrats to participate in the process because, like the Republicans, the caucus is where a significant amount of party business is conducted.

One major difference between the two caucuses is that the Democrats will allow same-day voter registrants to participate. The Republicans, on the other hand, succumbed to the tinfoil hat contingent in the party and, to prevent some sort of mythical voter fraud scenario, will only allow participants who have been registered Republicans for longer than 14 days.

Both parties are conducting a series of caucus training classes. The Republicans have caucus training at GOP Headquarters, 3652 S. Virginia St., Suite C8, 827-1900, every Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. and Saturday at 11 a.m. in January. The Washoe County Democrats are also holding weekly training at their headquarters, 1465 Terminal Way, Ste. 1, 323-8683 Tuesdays at 6 p.m., Thursdays at 2 p.m. and Saturdays at 11 a.m.

If you would like to check the status of your voter registration or your precinct number, which will determine where you will be caucusing, you can check it by contacting the Registrar of Voters at 328-3670. It is important to note the polling place shown for your precinct on the Registrar’s website is not where your 2012 caucus will be conducted. The political parties can give you locations.