Yes, today is the day for Washingtonians to decide whom the Washington State Democrat Party is going to support for President on the (D) ticket.
And yes, actual Primary voting won’t be taking place until Tuesday, February the 19th, and that is fine, because with the Washington State Democrat Party, the voters don’t matter unless they’ve taken the party pledge and they can mail them requests for money.
Because Democrats love the Caucus!
But not everyone is happy with it. Here are some Letters to the Editor on the subject
My wife and I are very frustrated with the caucus system.
My wife, a public librarian, has to work on Saturday, as do many other civic-minded people. I have sporting commitments with our three children.
Instead, a different demographic of folks with different ideas will decide who will be our Democratic nominee for president of the United States.
I will vote in the primary, but what real good does that do? The decision will already be made.
Julian Slane
And another one expressing frustration with the “Pick a Party” ballot we have to use
Good grief! We use an absentee ballot and find we must vote either Democrat or Republican. No choice for the undecided.
Now I read in The Times that the Democrats will not pay any attention to the ballot votes that come in and will use only what the caucuses decide.
Our election process in the state of Washington is in jeopardy.
Robert Ely
This guy must not be a Democrat. He’s thinking too logically
As an independent, I am effectively barred from the voting public; I’m too liberal to be a conservative and too conservative to be a liberal.
I am already on too many mailing lists, and I automatically get on one if I must choose Republican or Democrat. But then, I’m not an extremist: I’m too fat to be thin, too thin to be fat, too tall to be short, but too short to be tall, too poor to be rich, but too rich to be poor.
In our present either/or society, is it any wonder the country is polarized?
C. Wight Reade
I was actually thinking about going out this morning to play with the Dems’ process, seeing as how The Maverick vs. The Schuckster contest doesn’t interest me.
Then I took a read of the Washington State Democrat Party’s platform that I’d have to pledge to forward. After recovering from repeatedly throwing up in my mouth, I deicided to stay home.
Way to be Democratic about things, Democrats!
Sometimes, being someone who grew up somewhere else and adopted Washington as my home state, there are some things that I just don’t get about native Washingtonians.
Like ya’ll’s aversion to bridge tolls. Where in grew up in the SF Bay Area, all the bridges have tolls. The fact that 520, I-90, and the Narrows don’t (at least not when they’re not paying off a new bridge) baffled me when I moved there. And I won’t even talk about making toll=actual cost on the ferries.
The other is primary elections. I think I’m the only non-party appartchik in the state who supports the parties’ position that only actual party members should have a say in picking a party’s candidate. Not independants (aka, people who can’t make up their mind) and sure as hell not members of the other party.
And if they want to use that annoying caucus system, that’s their right. My big gripe with it is that, as a service member stationed outside the state, it makes it extremely difficult for me to participate. (If I was a Dem, I’d have to fill out a voucher saying I’m a Dem, then a separate form saying who I’d like to caucus for and mail both in. For the GOP, my primary vote only counts for half, with caucuses that I have no way at all of participating in counting for the other half.)