Washington 48th LD Caucus — April 17, 2016

I honestly do not know if I was seated as a delegate or not.

Perhaps we should call it the Washington 48th LD Circus instead. I cannot even find the words to describe the level of confusion and hysteria at today’s event — it was horrendous. Instead, I am just going to provide my raw notes that I dumped down as soon as I got home.

1. Doors opened at 1pm
2. I registered as a Sanders alternate delegate for the 1st congressional district
3. I was told to “sit up front on the left side” and I was not given a credentials slip
4. When about 25% of people were seated, they announced many alternates had mistakenly been given credentials slips
5. They added that Sanders delegates should have blue slips and Clinton delegates should have yellow
6. After lots of uproar it was corrected that alternates should have blue slips and delegates should have yellow
7. After more uproar it was corrected that 9th district delegates should have yellow and 1st district delegates should have blue
8. It was added that 9th district delegates should be up from and 1st district should be in the back
9. I moved to the back to join the other 1st district delegates
10. Around 3:00pm, it was announced that alternate delegates should not be seated in the chairs and instead should be outside (out back)
11. Around 4:00pm, alternate delegates sitting outside were told that delegates had been seated
12. Alternates were told that if they weren’t running to be a delegate, they could go home
13. Shortly thereafter, alternates running to be delegates were told they could reenter the building
14. When I got to a position where I could hear what was going on, it was clear that the caucus chair was explaining the rules and the agenda
15. He put forth a motion that he should be named the permanent chair without a vote
16. He said if there weren’t any objections, we would move forward — but it was likely that no one else in attendance had studied the agenda or knew what to do
17. Then he declared that there had been no objections and asked for a vote of all those in favor
18. Some credentials slips went up and he called it final and moved on
19. After a bit of confusing discussion, it started to become clear that many delegates in the 1st district (sitting in the back) could not hear anything being said (let alone the remaining alternates sitting ouside that had zero idea what was going on)
20. By 4:35pm, motions were being put forth to suspend the rule about adjournment at 5:00pm
21. A motion was put forth to move forward on that vote without discussion about it
22. There were many people expressing confusion and objection to the motion
23. The motions were approved and it was stated that we would not adjourn at 5pm and would instead adjourn automatically when the final credential count was announced
24. Delegates from both sides got up, yelled, and stormed out of the caucus
25. Questions were asked about how long we’d be there
26. Questions were asked about how we’d vote on delegates if we were automatically adjourned when the credential count was announced
27. Questions were asked about how delegate seats would be filled for the delegates leaving
28. It was explained that alternates would be chosen at random to backfill delegates that left, but chosen from the same candidate’s side as the delegate
29. It was explained that precint didn’t matter for the delegate/alternate
30. It was explained that male delegates must be replaced by male alternates and female delegates must be replaced by female alternates
31. There were questions asked about those rules and the chair and others on stage said they didn’t know
32. The speakers explained that they are simply executing with the rules, they don’t set them or understand them
33. A “representative” for Sanders was then introduced and given the opportunity to give a speech
34. His speech was only a couple minutes long and absolutely terrible
35. His speech didn’t represent Sanders accurately and Sanders supporters actually booed him
36. A “representative” for Clinton then gave a 5+ minute speech
37. His speech tried to claim that it won’t matter whether Clinton or Sanders is elected because they both have the same values, but that we should rally behind Clinton
38. At the end of his speech, a motion was put forth to allow for 2nd speeches or for the 1st Sanders speech to be redacted
39. The motion was denied saying “there are no provisions for additional speeches”
40. Instead, we moved to a 5-minute recess
41. After the recess was ended, it was announced that delegates had been seated and alternates not running as delegates could go home
42. After a short while, the credential count was announced and there were only 522 delegates named — it was stated that we needed to get to 599 — therefore we’d need to seat 77 more alternates
43. A motion was put forth to accept the 522-delegate count and proportionally assign delegates instead of seating alternates
44. That motion ended up getting rejected and they called a long list of names to seat alternates
45. After a while, they read a list of names for more alternates that needed to be seated
46. After the names had been read, it was said once again that alternates not running to be delegates could go home
47. A moment later, another list of names was presented to the chair for more alternates that needed to be seated
48. A while later, a new credential count was announced: 562 delegates (still not at 599)
49. Of the 562, it was 369 Sanders and 193 Clinton
50. Someone declared that once we hit 40% of the delegate count it can be declared final and “we can go home”
51. There was confusing discussion and a motion was put forth to make the 562-delegate count final
52. A motion was then put forth to forego discussion around whether or not that motion should be voted on
53. That motion was put to vote and the Clinton side of the room strongly voted for it while the Sanders side of the room strongly (perhaps unanimously) voted against it
54. The vote was called in favor of ending discussion so the credential count could be finalized
55. A motion was called to ask for an accurate count of the votes
56. The motion to end discussion for the motion to finalize the 562-delegate credential count was then voted on again, with an accurate vote count taken
57. The vote was announced and it was clear that the discussion needed to be allowed
58. A question was asked if they were still seating alternates — they weren’t sure
59. A question was asked about what to do if we ran out of alterantes — they didn’t know
60. A question was asked about when we’d vote for delegates for the next stage — they didn’t clearly explain
61. A question was asked about what the breakdown was for the empty seats
62. I had gone out to the registration table a few times and asked if any Sanders delegate seats still needed to be filled
63. I was repeatedly told “no” and that all Sanders delegate seats had been filled; only Clinton seats remained empty
64. They then announced the answer to the question of the breakdown of empty seats
65. The answer indicated that the majority of the empty seats were on the Clinton side
66. But it was stated that there were “about a few” empty seats on the Sanders side
67. I went back to the registration table and asked to be registered
68. I was told that the Sanders side was full
69. I went back into the room and confirmed with a delegate that they had just said there were empty Sanders seats
70. I then went back to the registration table and demanded to be registered
71. While I was going back and forth, the motion to finalize the delegate count was voted on
72. After registering and being handed my blue credential slip, I returned to the room
73. As I reentered, I heard it was passed that the credential count was finalized

I honestly do not know if I was seated as a delegate or not.

I did not capture everything here; there was far more confusion than I was able to absorb. I don’t know that anyone left the 48th LD caucus with a clear understanding of the results.