Elections: Who Built This?

Being as it's an election year of high excitement, lots of people are paying close attention to how the American electoral system actually works. A friend of mine said yesterday, shaking her head, "I had no idea."

That is: she had no idea how complicated the system could be, particularly what is being called the "Texas Two-Step." Republican voters are part of a straightforward primary. But as an article in the Houston Chronicle puts it:

Most other states have a primary or a caucus. Texas Democrats use both. The "Texas two-step" is a cute metaphor for this electoral hybrid, but it could make for a long and potentially confusing day on Tuesday.

Primary polls will run for 12 hours. Then Democratic voters can return for their precinct's caucus. Roughly two-thirds of Texas' Democratic delegates come from the primaries, and one-third from the caucus process that night.

The Texas caucuses normally are ignored by everyone but die-hard party activists. But this year, they could tip the delegate balance toward Barack Obama or Hillary Rodham Clinton. The process is so complicated that one candidate could win more popular votes statewide, but still end up with fewer delegates.

"I think it's an odd way to run an election," said David Harms, 57, a retired steelworker from North Shore. "It would seem more fair if the popular vote determined the number of the delegates."

"It seems like a pain," said Tiffany Parnell, 27, after attending a caucus training event run by Obama supporters Thursday night. "But if it's what we have to do, we'll do it."

So how does it work? Obama volunteer Sumita Prasad boiled it down like this: "In that precinct room, you want more of us and less of them. You don't need to know math or formulas."

The caucus -- officially dubbed a "precinct convention" -- begins at 7:15 p.m. or when the polls close, whichever is later.

Caucus-goers arrive and put their names and presidential preference on the "sign-in sheet." Ideally, they should show proof of having voted in the Democratic primary, but it is not absolutely necessary, according to the Harris County Democratic Party.

The group first elects a chair and secretary. Those two then take a count, noting the total number of people and how many are for Obama or Clinton. Delegates then are distributed proportionally.

For example, say 100 people show up at a given precinct on Tuesday night. If 75 of them support Clinton, and 25 support Obama, then she gets 75 percent of the delegates and he gets 25 percent. If the precinct has 20 delegates to allot, Clinton gets 15, Obama 5.

On Tuesday night, each precinct will have a preset number of delegates to send up to the next level. The number is determined by how many Democrats from the precinct voted for Chris Bell in the 2006 gubernatorial race.

"It's a whole lot harder to explain than do," said Ella Tyler, a Clinton supporter and member of the state Democratic Executive Committee. What really matters is the number of "warm bodies who are there at the sign-in," she said.

Okay, you got that?

Have Texans?

We'll see by tomorrow night.

Farai Chideya

Tags: Barack Obama | Election 2008 | Hillary Clinton

7:40 PM ET | 03- 3-2008 | permalink

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