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The Obama preference group selects their delegates at the January 19th, precinct 5022 Democratic caucus in Reno, Nevada.

So how much chaos was there?

Given previous voter turnout figures from the 2004 caucus, as the volunteer chair, I was expecting 100 people to show up for the precinct 5022 Democratic caucus. We had 179. Yes, the following occurred: we ran out of voter registration forms, preference cards and had only one set of maps to direct people to their locations. Despite these challenges, there were countless volunteer contributions made on the fly by people who understood a central tenet of yesterday’s caucus: we are the party. We are the volunteers who make things happen. There is no THEY to sit back and blame.

One volunteer, at 11:30 a.m. offered to leave his place in line to drive to the Washoe Dems headquarters on Terminal Way to get more registration forms. He made it back right before noon, was able to participate in the caucus AND saved the day by helping up us accommodate all new registrants that showed up at Clayton. Talk about stepping up to the plate!

My friend Jackie didn’t blink when I asked her to help my wife Lisa, who volunteered as the precinct secretary, register voters. She sat right down and got to work. Thanks also to Janet who registered 51 voters.

When I asked a few folks in line who were willing to help participants find their locations by calling an 800 number on their cell phones, they got to work.

When we ran out of preference cards, volunteers helped cut/tear slips of paper so that everyone could participate.

Other volunteers took around the caucus survey form, the county central committee form, the contribution envelope and performed other duties. Thank you all!

According to the caucus rules (pdf), while the meeting was to start at 11:30, the preference group alignment could not begin until after noon. In 5022, our meeting started at 11:45, and the last participants, in line by the required noon cutoff, were registered by 12:05, at which time we began the first alignment. The delegates were apportioned by 1:00, so the party’s projected estimate of 11-1 for a time commitment was met (I still don’t understand why so many of the campaigns were telling people to plan for only an hour.)

I’m grateful for the positive (thank you Karen Hudson!) reports on the 5022 meeting. I’m also grateful for the folks that took the time to thank Lisa and I and all the volunteers for pulling off an orderly, transparent and enjoyable caucus meeting after we were done. In truth, those ultimately responsible for the caucus’ success were the people who participated, were patient and rolled with the process that was at a magnitude far greater than anyone expected.

Thank you to all the volunteers who not only took out a Saturday to run their precincts, but also countless evenings to attend trainings, make phone calls, etc. Thank you to those who brought food, coffee and water- not just for their candidates, but for the meetings as a whole. Thank you to the volunteers who answered the call to assist with running the caucuses. I know that thousands of calls were made to make sure every Nevada Democrat had an opportunity to contribute to the process. Thank you to those who donated to the party at their meeting to help defray the overtime costs for opening the caucus locations, as well as the party infrastructure to pull this off.

Were there problems? Of course there were. I’ve read and heard some disheartening anecdotes of campaigns gaming the system to shut people out, over-zealous candidate precinct captains, and other problems. Ultimately, I can’t speak to those anecdotes because that’s not what I saw in our meeting. Long lines, delays, confusion and resulting frustration is one thing- allegations of deliberate participant suppression is another.

I appreciate people coming forward to communicate those problems in the spirit of making things better next time. I’d encourage everyone to participate in the Washoe county convention on February 23rd, and to get involved with the party to be a part of the conversation for when we, hopefully, voice our preferences early in the nominating process again in 2012.

What about the philosophical debate about caucuses in general, and the need for a state-sponsored ballot-based primary instead? That conversation is just beginning and I look forward to hearing the various perspectives in the months to come.

But as a legislator, I can tell you Nevada doesn’t exactly have a lot of extra money lying around for taxpayers to support a party nomination process that puts us ahead of other states in voicing our presidential preference.

I also appreciate the opportunity to get together with my neighbors to talk politics. Many of us spend way too much time in our isolated boxes these days, and interaction and cooperation with our fellow citizens is at the root of all progress we can make as a society. I lost count of how many of my neighbors I got to meet yesterday, some for the first time. Congratulations to everyone who took the time yesterday to make new friends at their meeting.

At the end of the day, Nevada matters now in selecting a president, and it was everyone who participated, Democrats and Republicans alike, that made the difference.

Nevada has much for which to be proud this weekend.

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