Republican precinct caucuses set for Saturday

By Evan Smith

Republicans in Shoreline, Lake Forest Park. and around the state will hold precinct caucuses Saturday. Republicans at those caucuses will choose delegates to the county Republican convention and will discuss issues for the county, state and national Republican Party platforms.

To participate, someone must be a registered voter, must sign a party declaration that he or she will not participate in the nominating process of any other political party and that he or she understands that his or her caucus participation is a matter of public record.

Caucuses begin at 10am Saturday, with registration at 9am. Voters can get pre-registration help by calling the King County Republican office at 425-990-0404.

In many places around King County, the Republicans hold “pooled” caucuses, in which many precincts gather in the same place.

Voters can find out where a particular precinct holds its caucus by going to this site and entering his or her name, birth date, address and e-mail address.

Any voter can find his or her precinct by going to this site and entering his or her name and birth date.

Delegates selected at the precinct caucuses go to the King County Republican convention April 16. The County Republican convention selects delegates to the state convention May 19-21 in Pasco. Delegates to the state convention elect delegates to the national nominating convention July 18-21 in Cleveland.

Washington’s presidential votes at the Republican national convention will be allocated at the May 24 Washington presidential primary.

Washington Republican delegates to the national presidential nominating convention must support the candidates that the voters in their congressional districts choose in the primary. That requirement applies only to the first convention ballot. If the nominating process for president at the national convention goes beyond one ballot, something that hasn't happened since 1976, delegates will be free to vote as they choose.

Washington’s 44 votes at the Republican national nominating convention are allocated so that three follow the vote in each of the state’s 10 congressional districts and the others are determined by the statewide vote.

Snohomish County’s state committeeman, Randy Hayden of Edmonds, said this Tuesday: “Unlike the Democrats we will let the voters decide at the polls and will try not to let it be controlled by the 1 percent that shows up to the Caucus.”

Another Republican official said that the caucuses are important as a way to build the grassroots and to get people involved in the political process from the bottom up.

Washington Democrats do not recognize results of the May presidential primary. Rather, Democrats use their March 26 precinct caucuses followed by legislative district, county, congressional district and state events.

Evan Smith can be reached at schsmith@frontier.com.