The Note - The Michigan Democratic caucuses are not "typical" caucuses, like the Iowa caucuses. Michigan voters go to the caucus sites and cast their ballots in what's known as a "firehouse primary." The state party calls it a caucus, but for our purposes, it's a primary.
There are absentee ballots and a system to vote online, in addition to more than 590 precinct caucuses across the state. Given that Michigan is a big state, a total of 590 precincts isn't very many. In some places, people have to drive more than 70 miles if they want to cast a ballot in person.
Mail-in ballots are due to county Democratic Party offices by 10:00 am ET Saturday; Internet voting ends at 4:00 pm ET Saturday.
At the caucuses, anyone who affirms that he or she is a Democrat can participate. (South Carolina got rid of its "loyalty oath" on Feb. 2). People go into the caucus room, affirm their identity and status, and cast ballots (either in English or Spanish).
Results are tabulated at a central location for each congressional district. Each caucus chair phones the results into the tabulation center, which is located at Michigan State University in East Lansing. Online and mail-in ballots will be counted by 4:30 pm ET.
Final results will be processed by 8:00 pm ET. The AP will station stringers in each congressional district counting room and should be able to tabulate results somewhat more quickly.
The party will NOT allocate delegates on Saturday, though they assume that news organizations will use the results to calculate the allocations themselves. Delegates will be allocated by a series of conventions in March and April.
About 120,000 mail-in ballots have been requested. Highest turnout for a Democratic presidential primary: 1988, when more than 212,000 people voted. |
