Colorado’s system of caucuses for primary elections have a result opposite of the intent of our mail-in ballot system for all other elections. That intent of mail-in ballots is to make voting as convenient and easy as possible to encourage voter participation. The caucus system stifles participation by relegating primary voting to a set location and a set time.
Caucuses are also time-consuming, and not all are able to get off work to attend them. In our case, we had made travel plans before announcement of caucus dates that made time very tight for us to get back for them. We scheduled return flights that should have given us plenty of time to attend, but American Airlines flight delays kept us out of town until about four hours after the caucuses adjourned.
The easier and more flexible mail-in ballot system encourages broader participation – more people voting. That is something we should all favor, I hope.
This opinion has nothing to do with “mistakes” involving both Democratic and Republican caucuses this year. Such problems and bad decisions can be corrected in the future.
What cannot be corrected about the caucus system, even if caucuses run smoothly, is the inflexibility of the single time and place designated for primary voting, and the length of time taken out of a voter’s personal schedule by a caucus.
Richard Ruth
Durango
