Nebraska Democratic Party: Sarpy County Democrats Speak Out

Sarpy County Democrats Speak Out

Feb 13, 01:43 PM CST

Peg O’Dea Lippert, Sarpy County Caucus Chair, submitted this to the Omaha World-Herald.

I am submitting this in response to Chris A. Sheehan’s letter to the OWH Pulse and to “On balance, good” from the editor.

What an experience! Not only was the first caucus historic in and of itself, it was an historic event to see so many Sarpy county Democrats come together. Some people have commented they didn’t know there were that many Democrats in the county! The caucus was the happiest problem the Democrats in Sarpy County have ever faced.

“The best laid plans” dissolved into “how can we best manage through this?” The planning process mirrored the Iowa experience—the state plan was also modeled after Iowa’s. After decades of holding caucuses, Iowa experiences about a two percent turnout; although this year they had a greater number. Translate that to Sarpy County and slightly over 400 voters were expected when we arranged to use the school, breaking into Legislative Districts. The school is located just south of Highway 370, the main corridor through the county. The school cafeteria has capacity for 700. Friday morning, in keeping with growing interest, we accessed use of the gathering space at the main entry for over-flow. Friday evening we had more ballots printed, totaling 1500. Who would have ever guessed?

We did run out of ballots. We ran out of space. We ran out of voter registration forms –– approximately 600. We ran out of parking spaces. We ran out of highway access. Amazing, most folks did not run out of patience.

The attempts of some Legislative District caucus leaders to count votes may have appeared disorganized and it probably was. The counting was moved to our home as we had to be out of the school by 3:00. I want to assure Chris, however, that the votes were double counted by ten people, with Obama and Clinton people on hand. The results are indisputable: Congressional District 2, 478 for Clinton, 1364 for Obama; Congressional District 1, 134 for Clinton, 308 for Obama. This is 2284 valid ballots, over nine percent of the registered Democrats in Sarpy County. There were 28 invalid ballots, having no “preference” or “Dem” on the preference line.

For those unhappy with the State Central Committee’s decision to hold caucuses –– so Nebraska would be heard and to broaden the base of the Party, I urge you to become active in the Party so you can have a say. Of the few complaints I have had, most were disgruntled with the results which, in turn, triggered dissatisfaction with the process –– not that the process was not worth of its own criticism.

In no way, am I attempting to defend the “happiest problem,” I am stating the facts and letting caucus goers know we did the best we could, under the overwhelming circumstances. I regret the inconvenience and laud the turnout.

Peg O’Dea Lippert, Chair
Sarpy County Democratic Caucus
gplippert2@cox.net

– by Eric Van Horn | Send this to a friend

Great letter Peg. I have also been trying to dispel unwarranted dissatisfaction and response from the public with the Sarpy Caucus. Here is my letter published today in the OWH Public Pulse…

“Caucuses made history”

“Nebraska’s first ever caucuses, despite some confusion from overwhelming and unexpected voter turnout, were amazing to witness. As a volunteer at the Sarpy County caucus, I can say that nobody was prepared to handle the size of the crowd that attended. It may have been frustrating at some points, But every vote was counted and privacy was respected to the best of our ability. Hopefully in the future, the Democratic Party will split up voting in Sarpy County into more locations. I can say most people were genuinely excited to be a part of history and were willing to wait it out. I commend the Democratic Party for giving people a real voice in the 2008 presidential election.”

We were not expecting the turnout that occurred. What a great problem to have though! In Iowa’s first caucus, the results were very similar, and look how it works now. Four years from now no one will even remember the problems that took place. We are so thankful to have dedicated party activists like Peg Lippert and many others who worked hard to make the caucus a great success. You make Democrats everywhere very proud.
— Ian Hartfield Feb 13, 02:17 PM CST #
I do believe the caucus to be a success but I think it is not wise to say that people will not remember this four years from now. I have talked to several people that were in attendance and those that could not make it out to the caucus site, who will very much remember the confusion, inconviencience and disorder.

It was a first in Nebraskas History and it was great but there were drawbacks and we shouldn’t forget about those either. Otherwise great job to all of you.
— Joseph G. Smith, II Feb 16, 03:37 AM CST #
An Open Letter to Sarpy County Democrats

My name is Carter McCann. Since 1987, I have not attended party functions. I have concentrated all of my time trying to get the crooks off of the Bellevue City Council. For more information, contact me at cgm707@cox.net

However, before 1987, I was a very active Democrat.

My father, a former Sarpy County Democratic Chairman and Bellevue City Councilman, invited me to a democratic dinner in 1967. There was an adding machine salesman who was thinking about running for governor.
He won and became Mr. Nebraska Democrat…J.J. Exon.

Since then, I have worked every local poll, supported Exon, Zorinsky, and many other democrats, and introduced Bob Kerrey to Sarpy County Democrats at a reception hosted by then Sarpy County Commissioner Ed Gilbert. I have served as a state central committeeman and lobbied in Washington for Bellevue in the offices of Exon, Zorinsky and Daub. I co-chaired the Mondale for President Committee in the Second Congressional District with Ann Boyle. I am currently working on several projects in Lincoln with the governor, state auditor and the Nebraska Supreme Court. I served for 7 years on the Bellevue City Council and 6 years as a Bellevue Bridge Commissioner.

Senator Obama inspired me to get active again!

It would be an honor to represent Sarpy County. I did a good job the last few times.

Carter McCann
292-6340
cgm707@cox.net
— CarterMcCann Feb 17, 11:01 AM CST #
I feel that Sarpy County Democrats were robbed of their caucus experience. I was excited to see so many people, yet am afraid that they will not show next time because of the chaos. I helped collect and count votes, and many people were very disappointed that after waiting for hours, hoping for a new experience they got nothing more than a disorganized primary. Pleae tell me how delegates are being chosen. I will be very disappointed if I am not given a fair shot because the county party did not think outside the box.
— ericka grosvenor Feb 17, 12:55 PM CST #
Ericka, as far as I understand it, every person who attended the Caucus, is officially a delegate to the Sarpy County Convention. However, not everyone will attend. At the County Convention, individuals are allowed to run as delegates to the State Convention and so on and so forth. I hope that makes sense.
— Ian Hartfield Feb 17, 06:17 PM CST #
I am not a fan of the caucus. I was there on Sat. and it was just alot of people but not what I thought a caucus would look like to me. Of course my Hillary Clinton did not get the count and I wonder how many people could not stay in the long lines. I may for the first time use my vote and write her name on the ballot come NOV. Yes a write- in vote.!!!!!!!
— kathy kirk Feb 18, 07:29 AM CST #
I just think that there should have been more than one caucus site in Douglas County. This is my first presidential election since I’m only 19. I had a blast on Feb. 9th, and look forward to caucuses in 4 years. Please have more of them in Sarpy county because there were way too many people there. I also would like to be a delegate to the state or national convention if I could, but they weren’t elected there. How can I be one?
— Steven Jensen Feb 18, 04:14 PM CST #