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TOP JOBS

By CINDY MALLETTE
Staff Writer

A uniquely Texas Democrat election practice left some voters cheering and others scratching their heads Tuesday.

The caucus, part of the "Texas Two-Step" in the Democratic primary process, brought in record numbers this year, election officials said.

Along with a primary vote -which determines how two-thirds of the Democratic presidential delegates are assigned - voters participate in a caucus to choose the remaining one-third. At 7:15 p.m., minutes after polls closed, hundreds of Democratic voters returned to their precinct polling locations to vote a second time in the caucus.

Caucusing consisted of voters signing their names to a list for the candidate they wished to support in the primary. Then, voters got to choose among themselves who would go on to the county convention as a delegate. From the county convention, delegates are selected for the state convention, then they're chosen for the Democratic National Convention, which takes place in Denver, Colo., in August.

Ernest Deckard, chairman for precincts 11 and 33 and president of Smith County's NAACP, said it was the biggest turnout he'd seen since Jesse Jackson ran for president in 1984 and again in 1988.

"This is something I'd been wishing for - a turnaround in my precinct," he said.

In the past few presidential election cycles, Deckard said caucus attendance in his precinct dwindled.

This year, Tyler City Hall couldn't hold all of the attendees. Deckard said the record turnout is a result of enthusiasm among new and younger voters for the Democratic presidential candidates.

Betty Mitchell, a longtime elections volunteer for the Smith County Democratic Party, echoed that assessment.

"It's just been an astronomical number of people who are re-energized by this process," she said. "We've had a very good crowd of people who are really excited about the future."

More than 350 people turned out to caucus at the Tyler Independent School District Administration Building, and another 300 caucused at Boulter Middle School.

The numbers were typical throughout Smith County's Democratic precincts, elections officials said.

"The turnout was incredible today," said Cody Yokom, precinct 3 chairman. "It was a little overwhelming at first, but we set down and worked together as Democrats and got through it."

Several precincts didn't have an acting precinct chairman, and they were overwhelmed with the unexpected number of caucus-goers, officials said.

Smith County Commissioner JoAnn Hampton, who served as the Precinct 62 chairwoman, got called into emergency duty five miles from her polling location at St. Louis Baptist Church to Precinct 39, which had about 300 members waiting at the doors of Lifegate Freewill Baptist Church to begin their caucus.

"They didn't have a chairman, and they only had one sheet to sign in," Ms. Hampton said. "Some people had to leave and come back. It was crazy everywhere. I think that happened at a lot of precincts."

Fred Marshall was one of the voters who left the Precinct 39 caucus location because, he said, he'd waited more than an hour-and-a-half outside, without a jacket, to vote. Marshall said he ran home to get a jacket and to drop some things off at his own church. When he came back to the polling site about 30 minutes later, he said he was turned away because the caucus was already finished.

"We didn't get to say our piece, because this thing was so disorganized," he said.

Karen Wilkerson, Smith County Democratic primary administrator, said a lot of the precincts were "orphans" because no one in the precinct volunteered to serve as the election chairperson.

"We knew it might be a problem ahead of time," she said, adding that a lot of new voters who were unfamiliar with the caucusing process didn't feel confident to serve as a chairperson.

Ms. Wilkerson said representatives from both presidential races called voters ahead of election day to make them aware of how the caucuses would work and to direct them to the paperwork they needed to conduct a caucus.

She said she suspects several precincts weren't even able to hold caucuses, and she'll be looking into the issue through the next week.

"We don't know yet how many (had problems) and we probably won't know for a few days," she said.