Democrats debate validity of presidential caucus votes
"The overwhelming majority of problems reported in Texas do not affect the legitimacy of delegate allocation." -- Boyd Richie Texas Democratic Party chairman "
By DAVID LOWE Staff Writer

Two east Lampasas County voters are questioning the validity of Precinct 1 caucus results after confusion about the sign-in and voting processes.

With several hundred people participating in the caucus, the precinct ran out of official sign-in forms, said Sandra Revers, who attended the caucus with her husband, Rodney Revers. The four official forms at the Clear Creek Baptist Church polling site on Farm-to- Market Road 2657 contained just 12 spaces each for voter registration numbers, Mrs. Revers said.

"They just were not anticipating that many people," she said.

About 1 million people -- 10 times more than the previous record -- attended precinct conventions, Texas Democratic Party Chairman Boyd Richie said in a statement Monday.

Some participants in Lampasas County's Precinct 1 caucus signed in on blank sheets of paper, Mrs. Revers said, and she wonders if the state Democratic Party will consider those caucus-goers' votes valid.

The precinct chairman never showed up for the caucus, which was supposed to have started at 7 p.m., Mrs. Revers said, and about 8 p.m. an election judge had to call the meeting to order.

"It was quite disorganized," said Mrs. Revers. "Everybody was just like, 'What do we do? Where do we go?'"

One voter called county Elections Administrator Dorothy Person's office to complain that a man was telling participants they could register only if they had voted in the primary for presidential candidate Barack Obama.

"That's kind of tacky," Mrs. Revers said. "That's almost like campaigning in a voting place."

Democrats in caucusing locations statewide reported confusion and long lines. Bell County voters' troubles included trying to settle disputes about polling times and sites, the Temple Daily Telegram reported after the election, with some voters sent out from the places they had expected to attend a caucus and others stuck in lines until after 9 p.m.

Precinct 1 voters in Lampasas County found the caucus a longer wait than they had expected.

"I'm sure there were people there at 8:30 or 9 o'clock," Mrs. Revers said.

Richie said in his statement that "the overwhelming majority of problems reported in Texas do not affect the legitimacy of delegate allocation."

Voters with concerns about the validity of any caucus should argue their cases before the credentials committee at the Democrats' March 29 county convention, to be held at the Senior Center in Lampasas, said county party chairman-elect Daniel Melder.

The state party will not create an ad hoc "verification" process to disqualify delegates, Richie said in his statement, because the credentials process already provides a verification method.

Melder acknowledged party officials may need to tweak the caucus system, particularly because voters who work at night or have young children to care for may have been unable to participate. The party chair- man-elect said Lampasas County avoided much of the more severe overcrowding that urban caucus-goers faced, and he considers the system an effective way to increase participation and build the party.

"Speaking personally, I think, overall, it was a good thing," Melder said. "As far as Lampasas is concerned, I think it works well."

Mrs. Revers said the inconveniences at her precinct irritated her and her husband. She believes Democrats should drop the caucus system altogether.

"It's upsetting that (the problems) happened," she said. "I just wish they'd change the electoral system."