The Back Pages: Caucus review

Record turnout was the big story the morning after Minnesota’s Super Tuesday caucus. For many, it was a sign of a robust and healthy democracy in action, while long lines and cramped classrooms prompted others to question the capacity of the caucus system. The difference in opinion when it comes to hashing it out with your neighbors versus the solitude of a voting booth may come down to the urban/rural divide. Editorials in The Minneapolis Star Tribune and The Minnesota Daily both found the high turnout to be prohibitive to the selection process, while smaller communities in Red Wing, Rosemount and Hastings viewed it as an accomplishment.

Star Tribune:

This state needs a presidential primary.

Minnesota’s political parties have a legitimate interest in building membership and volunteer rolls, but the caucus system is the wrong way to go about it. For many, caucuses like those held around the state Tuesday night turn the democratic process into an exercise in frustration and inconvenience.

Minnesota Daily:

Two DFL legislators proposed a bill Wednesday that would change the Minnesota caucus into a primary for the next election cycle. The primary would allow citizens to vote throughout the entire day, with an organized and fair voting system providing more accurate and trustworthy results. The GOP wants nothing to do with the bill. Instead, they prefer to have a minority choose a candidate for the majority at the convention.

We support moving Minnesota, one of only 14 states that still caucuses, to a more manageable style of choosing the presidential candidate. For all other purposes, caucusing represents an excellent model of citizen involvement in the political process. Throw a quarter of a million voters into the mix and it just becomes incoherent chaos. We hope the bill gains bipartisan support, making our voting system a cleaner, more respectable process.

Rosemount Town Pages:

It’s hard to say exactly why so many decided to turn out Tuesday. Maybe it was the fact Minnesota was part of the so-called Super Tuesday elections, a date that had been hyped as the make-or-break moment for many Presidential candidates. Maybe it was the fact there are contested races on both sides of the ballot for the first time in a long time. Or maybe people are just more passionate about politics this year.

Whatever the reasons, the at times overwhelming turnout is encouraging. It shows that, for all the concern about people disengaging from the political process, people still care.

Hastings Star-Gazette:

Too many times, voters wait too long to get involved, and we let a select few determine who will be on the ballot in November. This year, residents in Hastings made sure that wasn’t the case.

They got out and had their voices heard. They helped select the candidates that we will be voting for this fall. They turned out in record numbers and they were young, old and middle-aged.

Red Wing Repulican Eagle:

Three cheers for young people in particular, who find themselves engaged, energized and excited about politics. This bodes well for their future and our nation’s.

St. Cloud Times:

In a political era dominated by big money and even bigger voter apathy at the national level, Central Minnesotans helped the state retain its reputation for stellar civic participation by flooding countless caucus sites.