Is Your Vote Being Heard in our Current Caucus System?

      This Saturday, the Utah GOP will be meeting to discuss alterations to the Caucus System that is part of the election process for the State of Utah. Thousands of Precincts around the State meet prior to a general election; the residents of that area are invited to attend the Caucus and listen to their neighbors discuss issues and candidates. Several of their neighbors will run for positions in the precinct as delegates to the GOP convention where they will, as a representative of the voice of their neighbors, vote for the candidates of their choice that will move forward to the general election. These candidates must have received a minimum of 60% of the vote of the delegates in order to avoid a Primary Election.

      This sounds great and sounds like the voice of every voter is being heard, but is it? Many of the Candidates running for various offices have tainted the system by cheating the very electorate they are running to represent. Candidates search out a potential delegate that will support them with their vote then they go about "TRAINING" this potential delegate on how to get elected as a delegate and then how to vote. They go so far as to hold training meetings in restaurants where potential candidates are fed expensive meals, given political gifts and even taken to lavish entertainment sites, all to win their vote. Many times when these pre-selected delegates run, they do not reveal to their neighbors that they are pre-disposed to vote for a given candidate, their only goal is to get elected as a delegate.

      There has been an uprising about the current Caucus System, voters want their voices heard and clearly at this point they are not! There is a faction of voters that want to change the system to send all candidates to a Primary, then a victor will arise and be the candidate for the party in any given seat. That too sounds great, but Primary Elections are VERY expensive and only those who have sizable personal money or have amassed a sizable "war chest" of donations can afford to run. That means, the person in your community that would run for office and could make a great representative because they are one of you; they know your concerns; they live next door; they represent the same views as you; would not be able to run due to lack of funds. I don't think we want that either; only the wealthy would be running for office since donors do not generally donate to a campaign before they know for sure that a candidate will actually be THE candidate in the final election. So, no donations of any size prior to the Primary.

      The changes to the Caucus System that will be presented this Saturday by the GOP State Leaders will enable more voices to be heard, but it doesn't address the core of the problem.....Candidates who cheat the system and run their own delegates! THAT is what needs to be addressed, that is what has ruined a well-designed system, that is where the cancer is that needs to be cut out. I believe that those who are going to the Central Committee Meeting this Saturday need to be made aware of your thoughts on this very important issue. I have given you mine, what are yours?