The La Plata County Democratic Party held its combined precinct caucus and county assembly last weekend, but technical difficulties with new state party software delayed the event’s conclusion until Monday night.
Local Democrats held their caucus and county assembly as one continuous event Saturday, transitioning from precinct-level caucus meetings directly into the county assembly.
“Some counties hold caucus and assembly as completely separate events,” said Teal Lehto, chair of the La Plata County Democrats. “We chose to hold everything as one continuous event in the interest of getting our community together and making sure Democrats know each other and see each other face-to-face.”
When the Colorado Democratic Party’s new reporting system malfunctioned, the gathering had to reconvene Monday to finish its business instead of concluding Saturday as planned.
“Typically, we build our own forms to vote. That can be a bit of a nightmare for the credentials team, because they’re having to cross-reference every vote with the eligible voter list,” Lehto said.
She said the state party had promised the new online voting platform would streamline the process. Instead, the system appeared unable to handle the number of users from multiple counties holding caucuses at the same time.
This year marked the first time the state party required counties to use the standardized digital voting system designed to streamline credentialing and ballot counting.
The system uses a preloaded list of registered Democrats to automatically verify voters, reducing the need for manual cross-checking by election volunteers.
However, the technology struggled to handle the load, which included participation from large counties along Colorado’s Front Range, said Andrew Nicla, communications director for the state party.
“I would have preferred for the state party to do some more stress testing on their servers to make sure the system could handle the load,” Lehto said. “But I think the intention was good.”
Parts of the system were newly introduced this year, and the back end infrastructure appeared unable to handle the simultaneous load by multiple counties hosting assemblies.
Despite the technical issues with the state-required voting forms, party members ultimately elected delegates to the state, congressional and state House assemblies.
Caucuses serve as the grassroots starting point for party organization. Participants gather in their local precincts to select precinct organizers and choose delegates who will represent them at the county assembly.
La Plata County Democrats held all of their precinct caucuses in one location, briefly breaking into smaller groups to complete precinct business.
The county has 32 precincts, each of which selected two precinct organizers. Those volunteers help organize neighborhood outreach and encourage voter participation among Democrats.
After the caucus concluded, participants moved directly into the county assembly in the same room. Anyone who took part in the caucus was allowed to participate in the assembly – an approach the county party has used in recent election cycles.
While exact numbers were not immediately available, Lehto said turnout exceeded expectations.
During the assembly, party members conducted a preference poll for the U.S. Senate race. The results determined how La Plata County’s delegates to the state assembly will be allocated.
The county will send 18 delegates to the state assembly: seven pledged to John Hickenlooper, six to Karen Breslin and five to Julie Gonzales.
Those delegates will participate in the state assembly later this year, where party members determine which candidates advance to the Democratic primary ballot for offices including U.S. Senate, governor, secretary of state, attorney general and state treasurer.
Because Colorado’s election process allows candidates to access the primary ballot either through the caucus-and-assembly process or by collecting petition signatures, some view the caucus system as antiquated. Efforts to abolish the system have been unsuccessful.
While supporters say the caucuses are important for fostering face-to-face engagement and building community, the county party plans to convene a platform committee to evaluate the process and discuss whether changes should be recommended to the state party.
“I know our county will be discussing how well this process serves our county, our community and our democracy to provide that feedback to the state party,” Lehto said.
