Political caucuses scheduled for Saturday
With the nation’s two major political parties still deciding who will take center stage on the November general election ballot, Kansas Republicans and Democrats are looking ahead to presidential caucuses to be held this Saturday, it was reported.
Jackson County residents registered as Republicans will join with Atchison County and Doniphan County Republicans in caucusing from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. that day at the Blue Building, located at 304 Main St. in Effingham. County Democrats will hold their caucus from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. that day at Atchison High School, located at 1500 W. Riley St. in Atchison.
On the Republican side, eight presidential candidates filed prior to the Jan. 4 deadline for the Kansas caucus. They include real estate mogul and current GOP frontrunner Donald Trump, neurosurgeon Ben Carson, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, former Florida Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, both of whom have since dropped out but still have their names on the ballot, and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who also dropped out and whose spot on the caucus ballot is listed as “Unconfirmed.”
The registration deadline for the Kansas Democratic presidential caucus was Jan. 4. The party’s presidential candidates on the caucus ballot include former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, real estate developer Rocky de la Fuente and Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, who has dropped out.
Kansas is one of 10 states that still voices who it will support in presidential elections via party-funded caucuses, while the remaining states use primary elections, which are paid for by state governments, to determine who they will support. Kansas state law technically mandates a presidential primary election every four years, but the Legislature has voted since 1992 to cancel the primary election, mainly to save money, it was reported.
In the caucus system, voting is conducted at local party meetings and is done by raising hands or breaking up into groups, whereas primary elections involve secret ballots. In Kansas, only members registered with each political party can participate in their parties’ respective caucuses, while the Democrat caucus allows those not registered with the party to do so at the caucus. As for the candidates themselves, Republican candidates must pay a filing fee of $15,000 to register for the Kansas caucus, while the filing fee for Democrat candidates is $4,500.
The caucus system was reportedly the original way in which political parties chose candidates. However, people began to feel that the secret ballot was a fairer, more democratic system, and so states began to move to the primary election system in the early years of the 20th century, it was reported.
Both parties will hold caucuses on March 5. Democrats will host “local unit conventions,” or first-tier caucuses, to elect delegates to Congressional district caucuses by presidential preference, it was reported.
Thirty-seven delegates will be chosen to attend and vote at the Democratic National Convention, set for July in Philadelphia, Pa. Four of the delegates will be pledged party leaders and elected officials; the remaining 33 will include 22 district delegates chosen based on caucus votes in the state’s four congressional districts and 11 to be chosen based on the statewide caucus vote.
On the Republican side, 40 delegates to the Republican National Convention, set for July in Cleveland, Ohio, will be chosen based on voting results in the March caucus. Each of the state’s congressional districts will be assigned three national delegates; the rest will include 25 statewide delegates and three party delegates, including the national committeeman, the national committeewoman, and the chair of the Kansas Republican Party.
In Kansas, the Republican presidential candidate chosen in the past two caucuses — Mike Huckabee in 2008 and Rick Santorum in 2012 — did not go on to win the party’s national presidential nomination, won by John McCain in 2008 and Mitt Romney in 2012. On the Democrat side, Barack Obama received Kansans’ support in 2008 over Clinton and was supported for re-election in 2012.
Voters participating in both party caucuses will be registered on the federal voter registration forms if they are new or have moved. If they are not yet registered and want to vote in state elections, the state voter registration forms will have to be filled out at the county clerk’s office since the state’s first-time voter ID laws are more stringent for the state form.
The filing deadline for presidential candidates is June 1. The voter registration deadline is July 12 to vote in the August primary, set for Aug. 2.
For more information on the Republican caucus, visit www.ksgop.org
For more information on the Democratic caucus, visit www.ksdp.org
(Editor's note: This version lists the correct time for the Republican caucus in Effingham.)
