By MAGGIE MCMURRAY
Moapa Valley Progress
Hillary Clinton was the clear winner in the Nevada Democratic Caucus held on Saturday, February 20. And Clinton also carried the day amongst the Moapa Valley precincts at the caucus, although the voting was close. Of the 17 delegates awarded in Moapa Valley, Clinton took 10 of them. Bernie Sanders took 7.
Turnout was much better than expected and the Moapa Valley High School cafeteria was filled with voters who came to let their voices be heard. Ninety-four voters were there in addition to volunteers and observers.
The caucus is different than a primary election in that voting is not secret and discussion takes place as people speak for their candidates and try to sway other voters to their side. Some local precinct meetings were quiet, but many enjoyed vigorous debates between people who were passionate about their ideas, feelings, and candidates.
Loose discussion took place until 11:30 when precinct leaders and secretaries were elected and platform issue discussions began. Each voter had the opportunity to fill out a platform sheet with ideas to be debated and then perhaps added to the Democratic platform at the county caucus in April. Delegates for the county caucus were also chosen or elected in each precinct.
After leaders and delegates were chosen, voting began. An initial vote was taken with voters for Clinton moving to one side of the room and voters for Sanders moving to the other with undecideds in the middle. Some precincts chose to physically stand and move, while some simply moved their chair to one side of the table or the other. Then voters were given an opportunity to sway the undecideds before a second and final vote was taken.
Delegates are awarded by a mathematical formula. The number of delegates awarded to a precinct is based on the population of the precinct, not the number of voters that come to the caucus. This led to some interesting situations. One precinct with only 1 delegate had 9 voters there, while another precinct with 3 delegates had only 4 voters come, basically giving each voter their own delegate.
Another precinct with 5 delegates had 14 people vote for Clinton and 15 people vote for Sanders. Even though the popular vote only differed by one, Clinton got only 2 of the precinct’s delegates, while Sanders got 3. In fact, overall the popular vote numbers were much closer than the delegate numbers would imply. Out of 94 voters, Clinton got 49 votes and Sanders got 45, even though Clinton ended up with 3 more delegates.
The caucus was well run and voter optimism was high.
“I think it is really important to have a say in how the government goes,” said Delores Sanders of Moapa. “I came today because I wanted to let my voice be heard and vote for who I wanted.”
John Garcia agreed. “I’m here because I want my candidate to get more delegates and to do that, you have to be here to put in your vote,” he said. “There will be thousands of people that turn up to vote in November, but it is today’s vote that gets our candidate on the ballot. It’s so important.”
Several observers came to witness democracy in action, including one group of local Boy Scouts. Anson Call, 12, was one of those.
“It was different than I thought it would be, but I learned a lot,” Call said. “I always thought voting was quiet and private, but here everyone was loud and discussed things. I wasn’t surprised there were some arguments, though, because there were times even I wanted to speak up and share my opinion, but I couldn’t because I was an observer.”
Moapa Valley was not the only place that experienced heavy voter turnout. Mesquite officials planned for 150 people and had to scramble when over 500 people showed up. Some precincts ended up having to meet outside because the fire marshal was called when voters exceeded the capacity of the building. Everyone that came was allowed to vote, however, even though ballots had to be photocopied to have enough to go around.
“It was overwhelming and busy,” said Area Director Elaine Hurd. “But it was wonderful to see that many people who care about their country and their future and to get to witness democracy in action. These are the things that make our country great.”
