7 Days until the Republican Precinct Caucus

CALLING ALL MIKE HUCKABEE SUPPORTERS!

Attend your neighborhood CAUCUS on FEB. 9!

Getting to Your Republican Precinct Caucus

What's a Precinct?

Washington is split up into 49 legislative districts and 39 counties.

Each legislative district is then broken down further into smaller areas called precincts.

How do I know what precinct I live in?

The quickest and easiest way to find out is to check your voter registration card or ballot (they went out today).

You can also contact the Whitman County Auditor Elections Department at (509) 397-6270 have them look-up your precinct.

How do I find out where the caucuses are meeting?

What Happens at the Caucus

Ok, now what?

From the start of the caucus at 1:00 p.m. until 1:30 p.m. your time will be spent discussing specific aspects of the party platform and voting on the platform questionnaire. (Party Platform-a statement of where a political party stands on each major issue of the day.)

Most likely you'll simply have papers to fill out with different choices for what you want represented in the party's platform for each issue. For example, the attendees of your precinct caucus will be asked to reach consensus on where the Republican Party should stand on issues like abortion, taxes, national security and health care. This encourages lively discussion and is a great way to start off the caucus.

If you're not sure about what you're doing, ask your PCO or caucus leader for further direction. There are usually many veterans of the caucus process who can help guide you along the way.

What about delegates?

From 1:30 p.m. on, you and the people at your table will elect certain people to go as delegates to the county convention. (Delegates commit to attend the county convention and/or legislative district caucus which is where they will certify local candidates and elect delegates to the state convention). The paperwork provided will inform you as to how many delegates you can elect from your precinct.

Any voter from the precinct can be a delegate, whether he/she is actually at the caucus or not. (In other words, if you are the only attendee of your precinct caucus, fill out the delegate sheet with family members or neighbors from your precinct whom you know to be Huckabee supporters).

First, delegates will be nominated. You can volunteer to be a delegate, and you will represent the Presidential candidate of your choice (Mike Huckabee) .

You can declare yourself uncommitted, but you do want to make sure that any delegates you elect are also supportive of your candidate (Mike Huckabee).

To be elected a delegate, you must receive 50% + 1 of the vote. For example, if 3 people attend your precinct caucus, at least 2 most vote for you to be elected a delegate. A majority vote is not required to be elected an "alternate delegate"

What's so important about the delegates?

In short, this is where we can win.

As mentioned earlier, the delegates elected at the caucuses will attend the county convention (or legislative district caucus) later in the year, and they will choose delegates to go to the state convention.

At the state convention, the delegates all vote on which candidate they want to nominate for President. 18 of Washington's 40 delegates to the national convention will be allocated on the basis of the caucus with 2 delegates being elected from each of the 9 Congressional Districts at the State Convention. 19 delegates will be determined by the outcome of the February 19th Primary with 9 delegates being allocated on the basis of the primary outcome in each Congressional District and 10 selected based on the statewide totals. There are 3 automatic delegates who are the State Party Chairman, National Committeeman and National Committeewoman. Click here for more details on the allocation of delegates from Washington State. (We agree, it can be a little confusing.)

The Presidential candidate who wins 1,191 delegates will be the official nominee for the Republican Party, and will face off against the Democrat nominee in the general election in November 2008. Click here to track Mike Huckabee's progress state by state and nationally.

If you want Mike Huckabee to win, you must make sure you vote for delegates in your precinct who are also for him, so they can represent him at your county convention. Strongly consider becoming a delegate yourself. Also consider inviting neighbors, family members and others who live in your precinct who are known to support Mike Huckabee for President.

Also, encourage everyone you know to vote in the February 19th Primary Election since the Republican Party will be allocating 51% of its delegates based on that outcome!

Now let's win Washington State for
Mike Huckabee!!