Many voters aren’t fans of caucus system

To the editor:

Jane Ann Morrison hit the nail on the head in her Monday column on the sundown caucus. The Ron Paul supporters totally usurped the caucus with their loud, intimidating behavior and unabashed anti-Semitic comments.

The entire caucus was held hostage to this disturbing display, causing many people to forgo speaking for their choice of candidates in an effort to just cast a vote and get out. Unfortunately, I happened to be one of the religiously observant seated in the midst of Ron Paul plants, and I felt extremely uncomfortable.

Although the Adelson school availability was greatly appreciated, I would hope that this sundown caucus experiment would give cause to considering a return to the primary vote procedure. In this way, everyone — secular and religiously observant — would be able to vote, as polls in early February would not close until several hours after sundown.

Susan Levy

Las Vegas

Poor system

To the editor:

Iowa is a charming state, and it has a caucus every four years that gets a lot of national attention. I hope in the future it will get less and less attention.

Unfortunately, we had the caucus system thrust upon us here in Nevada.

But the caucus is not a fair system because it takes time to participate and not everyone can take off two hours to caucus. There is no absentee balloting, so if you cannot go at the scheduled time, you lose your right to participate in the process.

By now you have probably heard about things that went wrong with the Republican Party caucus in Nevada, particularly how long it took to count the votes from the precincts in Clark County.

But it is not just the Republicans. If you remember four years ago, the first county Democratic convention was so crowded and in such disarray that it had to be canceled, even after voters had met. It was rescheduled for a later date.

In non-presidential years, attendance at caucuses is sparse, but under the law the parties still have to have a caucus. Nevada is not Iowa, and let’s be thankful for that. Let Iowans have their fun, and let’s scrap the caucus and go to something more practical.

William Hancock

Boulder City

Slow decay

To the editor:

Has President Obama appointed yet another czar? Does Rep. Joe Heck of Nevada now preside over the Republican “chopping block?”

With only five states decided as of Monday, Mitt Romney has, at best, 8 percent of the 1,144 delegates required to secure the GOP’s presidential nomination. Yet on Saturday, Rep. Heck stated, “I hope he (Newt Gingrich) takes the message that it’s time to withdraw gracefully and not continue to divide the party,” according to a report on CNN.com.

Rep. Heck seems to be go-along-to-get-along with the establishment folks who believe they own the Republican Party.

Mr. Gingrich made a very astute observation about “establishment” Republicans, and I agree with him. They won’t make any bold, effective changes to improve America’s economy or preserve our American values. As Mr. Gingrich puts it, “They simply want to manage the decay.”

I am an American and a Republican. I am into restoration, not decay.

Wendy Ellis

Las Vegas

Not democratic

To the editor:

I have had it with this caucus system. It denies many in the electorate a chance to vote for their party’s candidate.

This year was no different than the 2008 caucus. It was disorganized. The electorate was uninformed. Many people were shut out from the voting.

To me, this is not the way to allow members of the electorate an opportunity to cast their vote for their candidate of choice. This Republican Party and this state need to return to the primary system of allowing people their freedom to select the person they want to represent them in government.

This caucus system is flawed and unconstitutional. It denies the right to vote for deployed service members, religious observers, persons with disabilities or in poor health, students who attend school away from home and shift workers unable to leave work.

Caucuses have drastically lower voter turnout rates than primaries. Caucuses are not democratic.

Put an end to this system that does not allow the electorate their opportunity to vote for their choice of candidate.

Don Love

Las Vegas

Primary fan

To the editor:

How is it not clear that the caucus deters people from voting? It’s held on one day at a specific hour with no absentee ballots allowed — in a state that has a large number of people working in the hospitality industry, which requires them to work shifts other than the traditional Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Two things initially worried me about my first caucus attendance.

First, that it was going to take too much time out of my morning to cast a single vote. Second, that the turnout would be so low that the smaller, cult-like following of a certain politician (name sounds something like Pon Raul) would be the only ones to show up. Both came true.

Less than 3 percent of the registered voters in my precinct attended, and 50 percent of the votes were cast for the certain politician not to be named.

Almost everyone who attended had something in common — it was their first time to caucus. And all wished for a primary-styled system in the future.

Edward Potts

North Las Vegas