My story is forthcoming. Short version: Crazy crowded, not so organized, but overall an interesting process. I am no longer a caucus virgin!

Did anyone participate last night? How did it look at your location?

UPDATE: Here’s my experience, in Twitters ^[1].

06:44 PM: traffic on hwy 5 is redonk. all cars heading to Eden prairie h.s. for caucus. report of same on hwy 62 exiting at edina h.s.

07:10 PM: in small hot classroom. waiting to sign up since I’m not on list for having caucused before.

07:13 PM: choir peep is here. loaned me her pen.

07:24 PM: ballot cast for president! lots of people leaving now.

07:26 PM: may stay for senate. passing out surveys for feedback on tonight’s caucus. betting it gets bad marks.

07:27 PM: this convener is stingy with the info. and stingy with the volume. get volunteers with big voices.

07:29 PM: oh wait, no straw polling for senate. officials saying no. people heard yes on the news. except you have to go through DFL red tape to go on

07:30 PM: folks here would really like to vote for Al Franken tonight.

07:32 PM: EPHS is so full. can’t get a sense of Dem vs Repub turnout. easily 1000 people here.

07:35 PM: needed more precinct maps for people to see. easy to find where your party is. hard to know what to do when you get there.

07:37 PM: precinct 13 now moving out to the hallway. not sure why. i think it’s something to do with senate stuff.

07:41 PM: first step: reading of official statements. yes I’m 18. yes I’m a Dem.

07:50 PM: electing precinct chair and asociate chairs.

07:52 PM: want to stay but lack of organization is gonna drag this out. hope i remember where my car is parked.

08:02 PM: just counted ballots!

08:04 PM: chair is talking. note taker is taking notes. volunteer organizer is consulting with convener.

08:07 PM: presidential ballots still coming in.

08:23 PM: these purple pieces of paper are slippery. apparently there was a big line outside.

08:25 PM: still signing up delegates. not to resolutions yet.

08:34 PM: edina mayor Jim hovland giving us a little stump speech.

08:46 PM: resolutions: for insurance coverage for doulas; light rail expansion; universal “healthcare” not “health insurance”; affordable housing

08:55 PM: resolutions: end homelessness

08:56 PM: resolutions: gay civil marriage rights! and meeting adjourning.

09:20 PM: my precinct voted 2 to 1 for Obama over Clinton

Parking was ridiculous. There was a nearby church parking lot offering park and ride shuttles, but obviously the bus was caught up in the same traffic everyone else was. I rather accidentally ended up parking only a couple blocks from the entrance of Eden Prairie High School. Unfortunately, upon leaving, I exited the building on the other side and probably walked farther to get around the high school than to get off the grounds and to my car.

Once I got in the front door, a fresh faced EPHS student told me to follow the blue tape ^[2]. That part when spectacularly well. And it all kind of fell apart from there. There were only two precinct maps on the wall. They weren’t overly large. And they were printed all in greyscale, so once you found your house on the map, it was really hard to see the precinct boundaries and find the appropriate number. 60 seconds with a highlighter could have helped out tremendously.

Once I found my precinct, another volunteer told me which room to go to, but upon arriving I (and apparently no one else) had any idea what to do next. Eventually figured out that I needed to sign the registry and then grab a ballot. Balloting, of course, consisted of writing my precinct number and my presidential pick on a piece of paper and dropping it in an envelope.

Of course then most people vacated. I decided to stay through the process until I decided I couldn’t stand it anymore. My precinct moved out into the hallway. It would have been nice to have been in an enclosed room so we could hear each other better, but whatever. Somehow between an experienced volunteer, an experienced caucuser who ended up being our precinct chair, and a Robert’s Rules stickler, we muddled our way through the whole process. I volunteered to be a teller. That was about as above and beyond I was willing to go.

Our group was pretty tame. We had more delegate openings then volunteers. There was no disagreement over resolutions. So we (slowly) worked through the process without much in the way of fireworks. It makes a big difference having now witnessed the process. I might even be inclined to write a resolution or two next time.

If I could offer one piece of feedback, it’s this: I realize this whole process relies heavily on volunteers, but at the very least each precinct needs to have a trained convener. We wasted a lot of time just because our last-minute organizing volunteer had to keep going back to the other room to ask the convener what to do.

Okay, if I could offer a second piece of feedback, it’s this: Once you get to the room where your neighbors are actually meeting, there needs to be a line. There’s a pretty clear step-by-step process. If they could have just had everybody line up and go through the steps sequentially, one by one, it would have eliminated a lot of confusion.

[my photos ^[3]] ["minnesota + caucus" ^[4]]