Live Update: Washington Caucus

Dave McKenzie goes over the process of caucusing

(Updated: Ron Paul got over half the votes in Skamania County with 52.5%. Mitt Romney came in second with 20.2% of the vote and Rick Santorum got 15.8% while Newt Gingrich  received 9.3%. Four voters voted for other people. There were 183 total who caucused in Skamania County.)

I was visiting some friends in the Columbia River Gorge and I thought I would take the opportunity to experience the Washington Caucus in person. So I’m here at the Maple Leaf Event Center in Skamania County conducting my own unofficial straw poll.

I asked Monty, the guy registering voters at the door, how this years attendance compared with the last time this happened. He said, “It’s not even close. There must be four times as many people”. I couldn’t get an accurate count but it looks to be about 150 souls packing the event center. At least enough to possibly cause the Fire Marshall some concern.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about this particular caucus are the Ron Paul supporters. Someone got the bright idea of giving Paul supporters a gold dot sticker and I estimate over half the people here are wearing them. I talked to a Paul supporter named Todd and he indicated that they have been laying the groundwork for this event for a couple of months now.

The two coordinators (Former Stevenson Mayor Dave McKenzie and the Skamania County Sheriff, also named Dave) spent about an hour describing the process and answering questions and concerns the voters had of which there were many. Much of their concerns were in the interest of fairness, accuracy, and transparency.

The results will be reported later today and I’ll try to get an update when it happens.

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