Saturday, March 5, 2016, the Nebraska Democratic Party will be hosting Presidential Caucuses throughout the state. All Democrats are encouraged to attend their Caucus to voice support for Presidential Candidates Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton.
Residents of Nebraska who will be eligible to vote by November 8, 2016 may participate. Each participant must be a registered Democrat; people may register to vote or change their party affiliation at the Caucus.
The Box Butte County Democrats will caucus on Saturday, March 5 at 10:30 at the Alliance Learning Center, 1750 Sweetwater Avenue in Alliance.
The Dawes County Democratic Caucus will be on March 5 at the Chadron Arts Center, 371 King Street in Chadron at 1:00 pm.
The Sheridan County Democratic Caucus will be March 5 at 10:00 am at the Gordon Community Building, 311 North Oak Street in Gordon.
During the caucus Democrats are encouraged to actively campaign for candidates Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton, or Martin O’Malley. They may organize, give speeches, pass out literature, balloons, cookies – whatever they think might sway participants to shift their support. Voting is done by moving to different sections of the room: one section is designated for each candidate and one for undecided. At regular intervals a participant may move to a different group and realign with a different candidate. A candidate’s group must have at least 15% of the total participants to remain viable. At the end of the caucus, everyone fills out their final vote card and the Caucus Chair reports the percentage support Box Butte County is granting each Presidential candidate.
Observers are welcome, but only registered Democratic Party participants may vote on caucus matters. Guests will be asked to sit in a separate area, must remain quiet, and may not become involved in caucus discussions. The Nebraska Democratic Party began using the caucus method to determine support for Presidential candidates in the 2008 primary battle between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.