Texas Caucus Debacle

It is 7:27 pm. I am already back from the second step of the Texas Two Step. The caucus. I arrived at the caucus location at 6:45. A line of cars was backed up on to the street at the entry to the parking lot. The parking lot was full. Some voters were leaving and not staying for the caucus and those were the available parking spots. By the time I made it off the street it was parking lot gridlock.

Some were trying to turn around and bail. This resulted in an ugly stand-off between two women drivers. I could not believe there was no police presence to help with this mayhem.

So, I called 911. The dispatcher sounded sleepy. I explained the problem. Told her it was at the East Regional Library Voting/Caucus site. She said she needed a street. I said, I dunno, I think it's Bridge Street. She said she also needed a cross street. I said there is none and the cops will know where the library is.

At that point one of the election workers showed up trying to untangle the mess. I told her I was on the phone to 911 and asked where are the police, this is getting ugly?

A couple minutes later election worker traffic directors started going around asking those in cars if they were here to vote in the primary, if so, just park anywhere, and go vote. And then they decided to just tell everyone to park as best they could. I could see this could get me blocked in, so I drove to a spot where I thought that no one could block me.

By now there was a large crowd milling about outside the library. More cars continued to enter the parking lot. Some exited and began parking on a side street. By the time I escaped that side street was full of parked cars on both sides of the street for at least a half mile.

After I parked I ran into the election worker I'd told earlier that I'd called 911. She was now in full traffic director mode. I told her she was the prettiest traffic cop I'd ever seen. That seemed to please her.

I wanted to take some pics of the crowd. There was a festive atmosphere. A guy stood on a bench and preached to the crowd. He sounded very insane. I got inside the library and saw the size of the crowd. It was not even 10 after 7 and there were enough people to fill up 10 of the caucus size rooms.

And the voting had not ended. I knew this was a boondoggle that did not need any further participation from me. So, I began my escape. The traffic cop who I'd told was pretty saw me leaving, then grabbed my arm and said I had to stay, that my one vote might be the one that made the difference.

I didn't think so. What I thought was this was an absurd boondoggle and whoever is the controlling authority that validates elections needs to immediately make whatever move they need to make to invalidate these caucuses. I saw many people giving up. As I walked among the cars most had their windows down. I'd ask if they were here for the primary or the caucus. Almost everyone answered caucus. I saw two cars in which women were crying in frustration.

On the plus side I saw many people who brought their children. I think they were feeling really proud about who they were getting to vote for and wanted their kids there. I saw many acts of kindness.

And one big bad overarching case of a really bad idea going badly awry.

The Texas Two Step stepped right into this mess without thinking. This election night disaster could have been avoided. It is not like it has not been known for some time that tonight was going to be a big deal.

I'm appalled. This is two elections in a row now here where I have been sort of disenfranchised. Jimmy Carter needs to monitor the Texas elections like he does other Third World countries.