What are caucuses, why are they important, and why should you be there? Caucuses are the first step in our state election process, and they give each individual, and each neighborhood, a lot of voting power.
If you wait until the general election in November, your vote surely counts, but the issues on the ballot and the candidates for whom you can vote will have been decided long before, at the caucuses and conventions, and by a relatively few people.
Of the 1.3 million voters in Utah, only about 15,000 attend the caucuses. Five to 20 people in a neighborhood caucus discuss the issues, choose county and state delegates to the respective conventions, and listen to candidates and special interest groups seeking to load as many precincts as possible with delegates who will vote for them and their issues at the conventions.
County and state delegates then go on to represent their precincts at the state party conventions later in the spring. County delegates choose county officials. State delegates choose candidates for the Utah Legislature, as well as the party's nominees for the U.S. Senate and House, for governor, attorney general, and for Utah delegates to the parties' national conventions to choose their nominee for president of the United States.
You can find out more about the caucuses at www.utdemo crats.org and www.utgop.org.
Do you want to re-elect your state senator and representative, or look at the alternative candidates? Was he or she available to talk with you as a constituent, and did he or she vote as you wished on particular issues? The best way to find out is to call your legislator directly and ask about his or her votes on specific issues. Legislators will know the bill numbers and titles, and they typically will be happy to tell you how they voted and why.
Or you can go to www.le.state.ut.us. On the Legislature Home Page, go to subject, find the bill number, then search for the votes of your senator and representative.
How about your U.S. senator and congressman? Do you agree with their stands on the war, health care reform, immigration, energy and the economy? Are your county officials serving you as you wish? Call their offices and ask about their stands on issues you care about. Then go to your caucus and see that your opinions matter.
You can wait until the primary elections in the summer, or 'til November for the general election, and complain as you did last year about the candidates from whom you have to choose. Or, you can be active now, get a friend to be a proxy for your vote on "American Idol" that evening, go to your neighborhood caucus, and feel like you have some power in the process. It's your choice.
Would you believe that American democracy is depending on you? Because it is.
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* TOM METCALF is a pediatrician living in Salt Lake City.
