+CAUCUS AND ASSEMBLY

From the Arapahoe County GOP: (Dates changed to reflect Broomfield) 

Caucus, on March 7th, is where all Republicans are invited to come and choose temporary representatives, who then attend county (also March 7) and state (April 11) assemblies, and choose party candidates to run for county, state, and national office.

 Your vote at caucus may be the most powerful vote you ever cast. The average precinct has about 1000 voters, with maybe 1/3 being Republican. In many precincts, only a couple people show up for the caucus meeting, so if you show up and vote for yourself as a delegate to the county and state assemblies, you could be choosing a candidate on behalf of more than 300 people!

 Why do we have the caucus/assembly AND the primary/petition process? Well, the caucus/assembly process was the original process in Colorado for Republicans to choose Republican candidates. Candidates and platform were chosen entirely within the party, in a process mirroring our representative government, by delegates who took the time to attend the county and state assemblies and listen to the candidates early on in the process. Those delegates were elected by those who attended caucus, and any Republican, but only Republicans, can attend caucus.

 In recent years, Republicans were tricked into adding the primary/petition process, on the excuse that the caucus system disenfranchises the grassroots voters because only the delegates to assembly vote on who represents the party in the general election.

 But that's like saying that the legislature disenfranchises the grassroots because we don't all get to vote directly on all the bills (pure democracy, also known as mob rule). It's true that only the representatives are voting, but if (IF!) our elections are fair, the representatives represent grassroots voters well and have time the grassroots doesn't have to learn all the details needed for a wise decision.

 But Republicans were also tricked into allowing unaffiliated voters to vote in Republican primaries, so now a Democrat can easily switch parties just in time, buy signatures on a petition, and get voted in as a Republican with the support of Democrat-leaning unaffiliated voters.

 Participating in the caucus/assembly process to get a candidate with actual Republican values whom Republicans can rally behind, is your best defense against the trickery until we can get rid of this bastardized system.