A. What are Caucuses?

The County Clerk is required to divide the registered voters in your county into groups (called precincts) of approximately 800-1000 registered voters. Caucuses are when the registered voters in these precincts meet (caucus) to determine their grass-roots political leadership. Friends, family, and neighbors get together once every two years for 1-2 hours to discuss issues and elect their precinct representatives (precinct officers and delegates). The delegates then interact with candidates and elected officials for their areas and decide at convention who will be their political party's representative in the upcoming Primary and/or General election.
Details: Caucuses are held around mid-March of even-numbered years. Precinct sizes may be set at fewer than 800 registered voters for a high-growth area, and more than 1000 for an area that is losing people. A new state law requires that all land in Utah be contained in a precinct so now there are a few precincts with no people in them (lakes, mountains, etc.). State political parties (Repubs, Dems, others.) work with their county parties to have members (and guests, who can affiliate at the caucus) meet at the precinct level (Repubs and SL County Dems) or Legislative District level (smaller county Dems and other parties) to elect their Precinct leadership (precinct officers, state and county delegates). In 2012, about 200,000 people statewide (all parties) met in caucuses to elect their grassroots leaders.

B. Why are Caucuses Important? No other method of selecting party leadership is so close to the average voter, requires so much accountability from candidates and elected officials, is so affordable for the candidates, and is so insulated from outside influence. Frequently, candidates and incumbents meet with voters in their homes to discuss their campaigns and/or performance in office. In the caucus/convention system, even statewide campaigns can be run with very little funding or exposure in the media up through a convention. There are about 2000 precincts statewide, so it is nearly impossible for any one candidate or group to come in and "take over" caucuses.
Details: Primaries are the exact opposite of the caucus/convention system in that they require candidates to raise large sums of money, usually from lobbyists and special interest groups, to be spent on billboards, junk-mail, radio/tv, and newspapers. Who wins? Dewey Reagan (billboards), Love Communications (junk mail), Channels 2, 4, 5, and 13 (TV), the DESNEWS and SLTRIB (newspapers). Who loses? The average voter.

C. How do I Participate in the Caucus/Convention system? Educate yourself about the caucus/convention process and make a point of attending your next neighborhood caucus. It doesn't take long and it's not hard to do. Register to vote. Plug into a political party if you wish, or just show up as an unaffiliated voter and then decide how much to participate. Run for a precinct leadership position and attend conventions whether you win or not, for either party, or both. Caucus information (procedures, schedules, locations) is available at each political party's website, the Lt. Governor's website, and in the newspapers. The people at your caucus are your friends and neighbors and will welcome you. The more people who participate the better!
Details: It is no coincidence that Utah is one of the last states using the caucus/convention system and consistently one of the best-run states in the Nation. If we lose this candidate-selection method to a primary-only system, it won't be long before Utah is run just as poorly as every other primary-only state. You only need to look at who is driving the anti-caucus movement (big money and big media) to see who stands to gain the most from direct primaries. What we currently have works very well and there is no reason to change it. However, the Count My Vote group is poised to ruin the caucus/convention system so it needs your help to save it. To paraphrase Ben Franklin in a similar situation a long time ago," It's a caucus/convention system, if you can keep it."
by Dana Dickson. v.5.1.13