Sarpy County had only one caucus site for 28,000 registered Democrats, triggering traffic backups for miles, complaints from voters and changes in the way officials conducted the caucus.
From Staff and Wire Reports | Posted: Friday, February 8, 2008 6:00 pm
Sarpy County had only one caucus site for 28,000 registered Democrats, triggering traffic backups for miles, complaints from voters and changes in the way officials conducted the caucus.
“To only have one polling place for the third largest county in our (state) was certainly a mistake,” said Joe Pilakowski, a 31-year-old high school teacher from Papillion. “It’s kind of a mess.”
Lines started to form outside of Papillion-La Vista South High School before 10:30 a.m. Saturday.
Registration was to begin at noon, with the caucus to start at 12:30 p.m., said Peg O’Dea Lippert, chairwoman of the Sarpy County Democratic Caucus.
Law enforcement shut down Nebraska 370 and the intersection leading into the caucus site — a public high school — because the area was packed with cars.
Caucus planners initially requested the high school provide room for 400 people, she said. When nearly 2,000 people showed up, they had to use the gym to accommodate the crowd.
“I ended up running the caucus from a speaker in the office,” Lippert said.
The influx of people was so massive that volunteers began collecting cards stating a preference for Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton, then telling them they could leave.
Traditional caucus procedures allow for more interaction, with supporters standing on either side of a room trying to persuade the undecided and not-so-sure supporters of other candidates to join them.
“People are threatening to leave, and we didn’t want anyone to leave without being counted,” said Marea Bishop, 43, of Bellevue, a volunteer at the caucus. “The turnout is so far above all our wildest dreams.”
“Desperation,” Sarpy County Democratic Party Chairman Burke Summers said when asked why officials changed procedures at the last minute. School officials wanted the school cleared of caucus-goers by midafternoon to make way for a pair of youth basketball games.
Steve Dawes, a volunteer from Bellevue, said most people were upbeat about the long lines.
“There have been complaints, but people do want their voices to be heard so they’re trying to be patient,” Dawes said.
Destini Howard, 38 of Bellevue, came to vote for Obama and said the wait was worth it to be part of electing the first black president.
“I’m willing to stand here as long as it takes,” Howard said.
When organizers printed off ballots, Lippert said, they initially ordered 1,500. Friday night, she said, they requested more.
After the caucus ended at 3:30 p.m., Lippert and about 10 people gathered up the ballots to begin counting.
“The happiest problem ever in Sarpy County,” she said.
A final count showed 1,842 cast votes in Sarpy County.
“There’s a hell of a lot fewer Republicans in Sarpy County than there were yesterday,” Summers said.