Nebraska Democratic Party: It's Super Saturday

It's Super Saturday

Feb 09, 07:15 AM CST

Well Nebraskans, it’s time to caucus.

Thanks to each and everyone of you who have made this day possible. Today, we make history together. Let’s have fun, meet some new friends and prepare to elect a Democratic President in November.

This, without a doubt, is the most exciting day in our Party’s history.

Let’s caucus!

I’m live at the Cornhusker Hotel in downtown Lincoln, where we will report results and conduct interviews with media outlets from throughout the state.

I’ll try to post a message periodically from our headquarters here.

– by Eric Fought | Send this to a friend

The link I used said it would give me my caucus site it does not and no one is answering the phone listed. Is there anyway to find out this morning where my site is located.
— Ona Williams Feb 09, 07:22 AM CST #
Hey.

I cannot find my voter reg card to save my life. Should I still bother going?
— Ward Feb 09, 07:23 AM CST #
Ward, you don’t need your voter registration card. To find your caucus site click here
If you are not registered as a Democrat, you can register on site.
— Dave Sund Feb 09, 07:29 AM CST #
Ona: We are trying to keep up with phone calls. There is a tremendous volume, but if you live in Lancaster County I suggest nebcaucus.com. Otherwise check out this page.
— Eric Van Horn Feb 09, 07:36 AM CST #
Ward,

You do not need your voter registration card at your caucus. All you need to do is go to your proper caucus location and sign in. Please call our office if you need help finding your location (1-800-677-7068) or email me catherine@nebraskademocrats.org your full address.
— Catherine Leo Feb 09, 07:39 AM CST #
So this is not a going to cast a ballot actual voting day. That’s retarted!
— Shawn Feb 09, 07:57 AM CST #
huge turnout at Monroe Middle School. Everyone is cordial. Both candidates supported. I’m standing in a very slow line.
— Mark Feb 09, 08:32 AM CST #
Can I leave early or arrive late to a caucus?
— KThomas Feb 09, 08:41 AM CST #
How much time do we think caucusing will take? Hours?
— Carrie Feb 09, 08:41 AM CST #
I re-registered to vote last October while renewing my license (following a name change too), and I can’t find any info online that I’m even registered to vote. If I AM registered, I’d be registered democrat. Can I just re-register tonight at the caucus location? Please contact me at the email address I provided
— Amy Ainsley Feb 09, 08:43 AM CST #
KT: Can’t arrive late, must be there by the start time.

You can leave anytime you like. But, in order to be counted, you’d need to wait for preference portion to be completed.
— Eric Fought Feb 09, 08:43 AM CST #
Carrie –

About 90 minutes. Longer in some areas with high turnouts.
— Eric Fought Feb 09, 08:43 AM CST #
Amy –

If you need to re-register, you can do so at the caucus site.
— Eric Fought Feb 09, 08:44 AM CST #
What time will preference portion start—guesstimate?
— KThomas Feb 09, 08:46 AM CST #
Thank You!! I just realized I’m still registered under my maiden name in Saunders County so I will definitely be re-registering tonight. And my husband is coming over from the Republican side! Weee!
— Amy Ainsley Feb 09, 08:52 AM CST #
I’m kicking myself for not assuming this would be some messed up day with different rules than when you vote on a normal day. I would have LOVED to get my vote in against Oprah’s favorite thing.
— N. Mason Feb 09, 08:59 AM CST #
We need a Democrat in the White House.

We need that person to be strong and beat McCain!
— KThomas Feb 09, 09:14 AM CST #
When you come back from a caucus please post the results from your town here! Thanks.

Gravel 08
— Brian Feb 09, 09:23 AM CST #
Can i bring my 15 year old daughter to the causus? She loves Hillary and I’d like to have her experience a caucus and show her support.
— Todd Feb 09, 10:59 AM CST #
“My vote in against Oprah’s
favorite thing” I can see that you really do your research regarding candidates. If you think its such a”messed up day,” maybe you should just stay home and watch some more TV.
— Daniel Feb 09, 11:02 AM CST #
@Todd

Ya bring her along. There were kids in strollers there and kids with snotty noses trying to figure why they were standing in the cold. Fun for the whole family!
— brent Feb 09, 11:05 AM CST #
Oh how I miss the simpler days when one could just go and vote and be done with it!

It’s nice to have an early say in the primary, one that will actually count for something, but the caucus procedure will result in less participation and less participation is neither good for our party or our Country.

Hey just a thought here but perhaps us Democrats should get to vote on the caucus system itself?
— Chris Feb 09, 11:35 AM CST #
I tried to go to the caucus in Sarpy county today, but ended up not staying because it was just not enough room for everyone. I am excited that there are so many people that want to be a part of this, but I am disappointed at the low level of planning. I am amazed that there was only one caucus site for a county like Sarpy, and only a handful in Omaha.
— Andy Feb 09, 11:56 AM CST #
No one thought that this many Democrats or Independent voters existed in Nebraska. I don’t think it was poor planning. I think it is a great unexpected surprise. If you really want change you had to stick it out. I brought my 3 and 5 year old children to the caucus. I brought a lot of stuff to keep them entertained. You do what you have to do if you really want your voice to be heard. Also let’s stop knocking each others democratic choice. We need to come to together and think about the bigger picture. Can democrats win in November?
— Colleen Feb 09, 12:23 PM CST #
Had a great time at Norris Middle School (Omaha)! There was a good turnout and we filled the bleachers and a large portion of the floor. Thanks to everybody who volunteered. It was a great experience!
— Carrie Feb 09, 12:32 PM CST #
I do believe it was poor planning. Douglas county only had 15 sites while Lancaster has over 50, come on people use your heads!
— Corey W Feb 09, 01:00 PM CST #
Leave the kids home next time! Maybe if some of you had there would have been enough room for all of the registered voters to caucus properly as a group instead of “caucusing” outside in the cold at Monroe school. Very fragmented process.
— Mary Feb 09, 01:03 PM CST #
I hear everyones concerns about LD vs Precints and the facts are that if Doulgas county and caucused by precint we would have had over 300 loactions a logisticall nightmare and financially impossible.

Since the republicans did not join us in this effort using regular polling places was out of the question.

Democracy is never neat and often messy. We did the best we could not to disenfranchise people and to fianlly give democrats the chance to actually decided who our nominee will be.

I think we did a damn fine job! Remeber folks this effort was to finally gve Nebraskans a say something the republicans didn’t feel necessary
— Robin Feb 09, 01:06 PM CST #
The caucus here in Broken Bow (Custer Co.) started at 9:00 and we were finished by 10:00 with under 90 people attending. Our hours said 9-12 and I know it confused some people, as our location was shut down by 10:20. Our communtication lacked greatly in that voters needed to be there in the begining to be counted. If you have to leave, it’s okay as long as you commit to your candidate. We did have republicans switching over to vote today and it was very simple to do. Obama won Custer Co., but I don’t know the exact numbers. Somewhere around Obama in the 50’s and Clinton in the 30’s. I was discouraged that there was only one other person, besides myself, 40 or below. But, the discussion time with the uncommited voters was SO invigorating! People, you really do have a great opportunity to be heard or if you chose to just listen…this is history in the making! Please take the time today to caucus. My 9 yr. old is just fasinated with the process. Now, if the rest of my neighbors that ARE old enough to vote could only get this enthused…B.Bow could of had a larger turn out. I must give credit to Scott Kleeb for my son’s political awareness! :)
— PAULA S Feb 09, 01:28 PM CST #
Where did it say that the caucus ended a little after 2p.m. in Sarpy county! I went to the high school at 2:15 p.m. and they said they just ended five minutes ago. Not too happy about that as I didn’t get to support Hillary Clinton today.
— Angela Feb 09, 01:38 PM CST #
You always have to be at the caucus at the beginning to get counted (you can leave early and register your preference).
— Charles Feb 09, 01:57 PM CST #
Thank you Charles….I did not know I had to be there from the beginning. I believe there is a lack of communication, especially for those that haven’t caucus before (like myself).
— Angela Feb 09, 02:01 PM CST #
Sorry, that we all couldn’t leave the kids home. Some had spouses at work and everyone who would babysit my children were at a caucus. So… I couldn’t leave my kids at home. Many people with kids sat on the floor so others could fill in the bleachers. Sorry, to sound so defensive, but some of us have to take our children with us so our votes can count.
— Colleen Feb 09, 02:26 PM CST #
There are now photos posted from our caucus earlier today in Broken Bow on this blog site that I just wrote info. to you about. I just wanted to add how exciting it must be for those of you in Sarpy Co. and areas to have such fantastic turnouts. I do still feel like my vote counted, even though we only had 90 voters today. But I’d be lying if I’d say it wasn’t disappointing. For this reason, I appreciated Chelsea Clinton taking the time to come to out-state Nebraska, with her trip to Grand Island. Our state does consist of more communities than just the metro areas. If western and central Nebraska had more visits, I wonder if it would make a difference in their turnout numbers. I also appreciated Chelsea’s efforts, during all her stops, to communicate the importance of getting the younger vote involved. They are our future! Whether it’s Clinton OR Obama in November, let’s just unite for a run against John McCain.
— PAULA S Feb 09, 02:42 PM CST #
Daniel… how rude of you to assume that’s the only way I chose a candidate. That is one of the many reasons I would not have voted for BO if I had made it to the caucus. And when I got the postcard to remind me when to go, it would have been nice to know you had to be there first thing. Just poor planning. Not that my vote in NE ever counts anyway, the republican always wins.
— N. Mason Feb 09, 02:55 PM CST #
As a Democrat, I had no idea that there were so many other Democrats. Where do you all work or live? Man, I have always felt alone with my politcal views, until today. Yes, things were hectic, but now we know there is a lot more us out there and we can learn from our that. Next time, our caucus experience should go better.
— Colleen Feb 09, 03:03 PM CST #
And some of us want to bring our younger children to familiarize them with the political process. And experience something like a caucus that no one has experienced in
Nebraska before (and hopefully never will again). But I’m talking teen aged kids. I can understand young kids and infants getting annoying. I try to avoid them everywhere.
— Todd Feb 09, 03:04 PM CST #
I was at the Sarpy county location also. It was crazy due to the high voter turn out, it also at times seemed disorganized. However, I do feel that it was organized as well as possible since it was a new experience and the volume of people was larger than expected. The next time it will run smoother after today’s experience. I would like to thank all the volunteers who gave of their time to do this and who unfortunately took the brunt of many people who were less than understanding.
— Kelly Feb 09, 03:15 PM CST #
Sarpy county-I was there from the beginning. Got there early around 10:00-~~helped blowed up balloons handed out pins for the voter cards-instant volanteer. Then it all happened like it was free~~—free democracy was handed out and everyone came…it was over whelming!!! But everyone was invited in and counted their vote. I was glad to see the democrates are stepping up and will not be pushed around again for 8 years like we have been going through. NO more! Every vote must count Hillary or Obamma vote democrate!
— Sandy Feb 09, 03:16 PM CST #
Sarpy County – The site simply couldn’t handle the number of people. There were people who wanted to register as Democrats who were told to leave because they ran out of forms and did not have enough time to get more. After spending hours in lines, this is unacceptable. There needed to be more sites.
— Shellie Feb 09, 03:37 PM CST #
Buffalo couny went overwehelming for Obama. There are democrats in this state. Buffaloe county showed up in over 400 Democratic voters.
— Rosemary Cervantes Feb 09, 03:42 PM CST #
What a wonderful day it was for the state of Nebraska. After all are own vote,s will truley count. Thank God Mr. Obama got mine.
GOD BLESS NEBRASKA

P.S. AND SO MANY REP. AND INDEP,S CHANGED TO DEM,S TODAY… I AM SO PROUD TO BE A DEM TODAY … YES DOUGLAS COUNTY OBAMA GOT 77% ..HILLBILLY GOT 23% GEEZ SRY HILL
— Linda Feb 09, 04:30 PM CST #
There is no excuse for having just one caucus site in Sarpy. Didn’t anyone see the turnout in Iowa? Those that did turn out seemed to be about 2 to 1 for Obama.
— Dave Feb 09, 04:31 PM CST #
I am so proud to be a Democrat. We, not only were caucusing for 2 very capable candidates, we were caucusing for a woman and a black man. Wow! My entire family attended our first caucus together. We had many young, first time voters and they knew a lot more about the caucus process than many of us who have been voting for 40 years. We had a 93 year old white man, at his first caucus, caucusing for a black man. Yesterday gives me so much hope for the future and I may be repeating myself but I will say it again, I am so proud to be a Democrat.
— Poipu Feb 10, 06:17 AM CST #
A heartfelt THANK YOU to all who arranged our caucus here in Washington County! This amazing experience has given me hope in so many ways, especially seeing the people, young to old, participating with intelligent thoughtfullness! I too am now proud to be a part of active Democracy and our Democratic party! I am grateful for all who attended, who organized, who spoke on behalf of their candidate, who were undecided and then made a choice!
— Barb in Blair Feb 10, 11:23 AM CST #
I was so excited to see the turnout yesterday…It was amazing!!! As for bringing children….We brought our 3 year old with us and I admit it is not a child friendly environment, but we wanted to be heard also. Everyone we know was caucusing and therefore we had no one to watch our son. I think that us democrats that are out there need to do whatever we can to be heard….even if that means dragging our children with us. On a lighter note, I am so proud of everyone who showed on Saturday!
— Randee Feb 10, 12:00 PM CST #