Minnesota State University Reporter

Issue date: 2/7/08 Section: Local and State News

Media Credit: John Dahmen Despite mass confusion, caucusgoers voted and voiced their issues in record numbers Tuesday at Mankato East High School.

Standing at well over six feet, Ryan Anderson yelled through the crowd, looking for more DFL'ers from precinct 14.

Toward the end of the caucusing, few remained from Anderson's precinct, an area with a heavy student population. They voted yea or nay on a few resolutions Anderson will present at the county convention in March; among them, creating a U.S. Department of Peace, withdrawing from Iraq and investing in energy-saving technology.

Caucus day brought record turnout in Mankato, as it did in the rest of the country. In Minnesota, voters overwhelmingly supported Barack Obama, who took about 67 percent of the tally; Mitt Romney netted 41.6 percent of the vote.

In Blue Earth County, almost 2,000 people voted for DFL'ers, 66 percent of them for Obama, while Ron Paul drew the most votes with 208, or 31 percent of the Republican lineup.

"It was a happy problem to have," said Anderson, a political science junior and speaker of the Minnesota State Student Association. 

With so many first-time caucusgoers and so few volunteers to help, many had trouble finding their precinct in Mankato. 

"When I came here I was expecting maybe more of a formal ballot with multiple names listed," said marketing sophomore Tyler Purcell.

Instead, voters were told to list their name, address and phone number and then write their preferred candidate on a scratch piece of paper. 

Like many others, Purcell waited in long lines. Voters looked at scarcely detailed maps to find their precincts, and many went to the wrong caucusing area. Anderson said that didn't cause major problems, but would have been a headache if ballots were inconsistent with registration tallies or candidates remained neck and neck in votes and a recount was necessary. 

"A lot of the problem is they don't know their precinct," Rep. Tony Cornish, a Republican from Good Thunder's district, 24B, said of first-time caucusgoers. "They want to be involved but since it's their first time they don't know which precinct they belong to."

In addition, many missed out on speaking thier issues and ideals due to waiting in long lines and the confusion that ensued.

"It's unfortunate that a lot of good ideas went to the wayside," he said.

 Facilitating those discussions were volunteers such as sophomore Chase Bergman, who served as a DFL precinct captain. With so many caucusgoers, Bergman said volunteers were strained. 

"I think a lot of people just got frustrated and (were given) misinformation."

The confusion wasn't just caused by the record turnout, but also the system itself. 

"(Caucuses were) really meant to handle something different  than just voting like a primary," Blue Earth County DFL Chair Richard Wheeler said. "A lot of them came thinking they were voting just on the presidential election, and they can do that but the system isn't really meant to accommodate (that many) people." 

That might change; according to an Associated Press story, State Sen. Ann Rest, DFL-New Hope, said she plans to push legislation to establish a presidential primary, while leaving the caucus system in place for party matters. She will ask voters to share their caucus experiences at a public hearing, possibly next week.

But Secretary of State Mark Ritchie and GOP spokesman Mark Drake said the caucus gives citizens more of a voice in their platforms and issues, while states that hold primaries give more of a superficial overview of the voting bases' ideals. 

Either way, Wheeler said caucuses should be adjusted accordingly to high voter turnouts. 

"We would like to see - if this is what's going to happen - to have them have a primary, because I think a lot of people felt very frustrated by what happened because it wasn't what they expected,"  he said.

Leigh Pomeroy, a DFL candidate who ran against and lost to Gil Gutknecht in 2004, said he hopes the same mistake isn't made again.

"We don't anybody want to get turned off by this," he said. "The last thing you want to do is disenfranchise people." 

Perhaps one fault, he said, was holding the well-attended Republican and Democrat caucuses at East High School (Independent caucuses were held at West High School). 

He pointed out, however, that "In the circumstance, both parties helped each other and each other's constituents to find the right place, so there was a great cooperation." 


Bronson Pettitt is the Reporter editor in chief

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