There may be only one official presidential candidate for the Democratic Party, but the caucus will still take place.
“Basically the choices are between Obama and uncommitted,” Caucus Chairman Jim Miller said. “People come and declare who they will vote for.”
The Idaho caucus will take place Saturday at McDonald Elementary School in Moscow. Doors open at 9 a.m., with the events starting at 10.
“Unlike the Republican caucus, ours is open to anybody,” Miller said. “You don’t have to declare a party affiliation, but can’t have voted in the Republican caucus and then here.”
Miller said the caucus will also determine Latah County representatives for the state convention in June.
“Our county has 15 delegates sent to the state convention,” Miller said. “We determine the percent of delegates based on the percent of people’s pledges.”
The delegate selection process is written by each state’s Democratic Party. Once county delegates are selected, each state is allotted its number of delegates to the national convention based on population and the party’s voting strength, according to the Idaho Democratic Party.
Miller said delegates are chosen based on the percentage of votes they receive during the caucus. He said even if someone interested was unable to attend the caucus, they could still run to be a delegate as long as they register before the event.
Miller said participants, even if they are not running, need to be registered voters in Latah County. A registration table will be set up before the event to register people to participate.
Miller said he expects about 200 participants because the candidate is an incumbent.
“It’s not a big choice this year,” Miller said. “We are planning for 200, but there could be 50 or there could be 1,000 — we don’t know.”
For more information or to get involved, contact the Latah County Democrats at (208) 882-6600.
Katy Sword can be reached at [email protected]