Tomorrow I will discuss the Nebraska Caucus. For today, let’s talk about how to caucus in Kansas. If you watched Iowa, Nevada and elsewhereyou are used to the idea of a caucus site per precinct. In Kansas, it will not work this way. Each Senate District has one caucus location. Per national rules, a caucus site cannot cover two different US House districts, so If a state senate district goes over a US House district, there will be another caucus site to pick up the other portion of the senate district. You can find the full list of caucus sites here. Remember: you vote in the SENATE DISTRICT you are in. If you know who your state senator is, you know what District you will caucus in!
If you look at the map above, you might notice that for some Kansans, this could mean a bit of drive time. District 32, 33, 35, 36, 38, 39, 40 may mean that you have to drive more than an hour, and up to two hours in some areas, depending on where you live, to reach your caucus site. So plan your means to get to your caucus location accordingly.
Registration is from 1-3 p.m., and you MUST be in line by 3:00 p.m. in order to caucus. If you get in line AFTER 3PM, you will not be allowed inside of the caucus location. Now, let’s talk about the caucus sites.
Because Kansas handles caucus by senate district rather than precinct, your caucus location could be HUGE. For example, while there is only one per each senate district, it doesn’t mean the number of eligible democratic voters is small.
So, let’s take Senator Marci Francisco’s district in Douglas County. Her location will be Central Middle School, 1400 Massachusetts St, Lawrence, KS 66044. Her last election had 21,069 Democrats vote. All of those democrats are within that single caucus site. Think Iowa or Nevada were big? While it is unlikely that 21,069 Democrats will show up at Central Middle School, that is technically their location for where to gather in order to cast their votes.
If you’ve read my prior article on Caucus Strategy 101, you may be thinking: how do you manage such a HUGE site!?!! Well, unlike guidelines for Iowa you will need lots of communication, coordination and good planning in order to help your candidate. This means making sure that your group handles crowds, registration and can keep your voters in order.
How long will a caucus take? Depending on how many undecided voters, a site will take about 2 hours or so. If you have a long drive to your caucus location, please plan to make sure you are there a half an hour before the caucus starts (by 2:30) or earlier — you never know how your drive or travel will go.
In the end, your entire day on this process will be between 3 hours total, if you are close to your caucus site and registered, to 3-6 hours, depending on how far away from your caucus site and how long it takes your site to decide.
If you are a registered Democrat, you will need nothing to appear and vote. You will be asked for your name and information and they will check you in and provide you a wristband. If you are not a Democrat and you need to register as a democrat, you will fill out the federal form and, for the time being, you will need to provide one of the 13 acceptable identification methods for our Secretary of State.
Best Practices
Because of the way the caucus system is setup, some in city areas may find polling places easy to reach and attend. Those who are in rural districts may find polling places difficult to attend. For Kansans in rural districts, contact your local support with the Bernie or Hillary campaign for ride sharing programs. If you need help contacting them, please post a comment and I will help you get in touch with the right person.
Real basics: Eat before you arrive. Many will likely bring bottles of water. Very young children and babies can make things very difficult for parents, if you leave the room once locked you will not be counted in the voting total. Find sitters if at all possible.
Enjoy the caucus. Caucus sites will offer local candidates an opportunity to speak to you, normally for a few minutes, before you begin. Your local candidate for your senate and house races are ones who will make a potential huge difference in your state. Run them down no matter who they are, thank them for running, and if you can, contribute to their campaign. These are people who are putting themselves out there and need your support.
Midwest caucus sites are designed to be MIDWEST NICE. Treat fellow caucus goers with respect and dignity. You will hurt your candidate by cursing, swearing, defaming other candidates or talking negatively about supporters. Also remember: some mistakes will happen. Do not treat it as a ‘gotcha’ moment, instead, be patient and make sure that your site is run correctly — both the Bernie and Hillary campaigns in most sites have site captains who know and respect each other. They will help look out for you. If you have issues, find your site captain or whip, and bring the issue up. Do NOT take matters into your own hands; caucus can lead to confusion and blame and people who seek 15 minutes of fame. Very rarely are things so “wrong” that they cannot be fixed by the people who are there.
Caucus begins at 3PM Saturday, March 5.