Too crowded to caucus

Obama supporter at the Minnesota caucus, Mpls
Super Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2008CE

By 6:15 the line was long, and that was just to sign in. Sticking to the rules, no one could vote until 6:30, and we only had the choices for president. The slate of Democrats was long and included people who dropped out a long time ago (in political terms). ( I guess the Republicans were in another place.) They were unprepared; I gave them two of my pens (from the bus company). People were still arriving at 7:00 when they declared the actual caucus to be in the next building. At first, the Convener said they wouldn't start until 8 (when the whole thing was supposed to be over), but she started the process of electing caucus officials about 7:15. Still, people were trickling in and it was obvious the main event would go on for a long time. I didn't stick around.

I talked to several interesting local voters, including an Imam from Somalia and a student originally from Bangladesh who lives in my building.

Turnout at the MN Caucus

jiawen amid crowd of caucus voters
Mpls, Super Tuesday, Jan 5, 2008CE
The line had been long and growing when I got there about quarter after 6. People were signing in, and voting started promptly at 6:30. The line moved slowly but steadily. Getting out was a problem.

Now, it nearly 7pm. Perhaps a hundred people had voted already, maybe many more. Dozens of people went before me and dozens came after, with the crowd still gathering. By this time I had turned in my presidential preference ballot and had been waiting for many minutes. This shot, with jiawen's face poking out of the crowd near the middle, is toward the entrance. The line bunches up near the door, goes left out of the picture, and we see the line continue in the foreground with the voting table off to the right.

I wended my way through the crowd to the next building where the caucus had been announced to take place (see previous entry). As I was leaving, more people were showing up...