What you need to know about political party caucus meetings Tuesday

Want to change the direction of your political party? Hope to help a favorite candidate qualify for the primary election? Want to stop other candidates?

Caucus meetings in neighborhood precincts on Tuesday evening will provide such opportunities to Utah voters. Political party leaders — and even top LDS Church officials — are urging participation to guide the future of the state.

The Democratic, Republican, Constitution, Independent American and United Utah parties are all holding caucuses on Tuesday. Times and locations are available online at vote.utah.gov and caucus.utah.gov.

Republicans and Democrats will elect precinct officers, who help govern the party, plus delegates to state and county conventions. (Other smaller parties often allow all their members to serve as convention delegates if they choose.)

At conventions, delegates select the two top candidates running for a variety of offices to advance to a primary election. But if candidates achieve at least 60 percent of delegate votes, they eliminate all their opponents who are taking the convention route to the ballot.

Under a 2014 Utah law, however, candidates can also qualify for the ballot by collecting enough signatures. Candidates may choose either or both routes to the ballot.

Republicans are the only party that requires caucus participants to be registered party members, but voters may fill out forms at the meetings to sign up. Party leaders encourage people to arrive early to verify party membership or join.

The GOP has faced a civil war recently between conservatives and moderates. Ultraconservatives on the party’s State Central Committee, for example, recently forced a bylaw change to expel candidates in some races if they try to qualify for the ballot by collecting signatures.

Most delegates tend to be conservative and dislike the loss of power for the party and delegates that results from candidates collecting signatures. Utah Republican Party Chairman Rob Anderson has said he will ignore the new bylaw because it violates state law — a move that has infuriated conservative State Central Committee members.

Because of such tussles, Anderson said, “It’s important for as many people as possible to participate in caucuses. The more people that attend, the more representative the delegates will be.”

Anderson warns that meetings sometimes take hours — after reading the party platform, speeches by candidates, and sometimes multiple rounds of voting. Sometimes critics have accused small groups of delaying tactics hoping that many may leave, allowing a small number of zealots to elect the candidates of their choice.

“When caucus meetings are long and people begin to leave, the people who are elected aren’t as representative. I encourage people to hang in there until the bitter end and be involved as long as you possibly can,” he said.

Alex Cragun, executive director of the Utah Democratic Party, said, “We have an open caucus system, so everyone is welcome to come. We invite anybody, whether you are a disaffected Republican feeling like your party has left you, or you are a 17-year-old who wants to get involved in the process for the first time.”

He adds his party is inviting groups hoping to put voter initiatives on the ballot to gather signatures at caucuses. “It’s a great way to give people the opportunity to kill two birds with one stone.” Such initiatives seek to expand Medicaid, legalize medical marijuana, avoid gerrymandering and change election laws.

Republican Mitt Romney — who faces 11 other Republicans for the GOP nomination in the U.S. Senate race — spent Monday making a plea for women to run as GOP delegates.

He said about half of all voters are women, as are about half of caucus attendees. “But women who become delegates to the convention only represent 20 or 25 percent” of the total. “So we want more women to run as delegates.”

His wife, Ann, said she plans to run herself — and to fly back from a long-arranged speech in California to do so.

The governing First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints also is pushing to increase caucus attendance. It canceled all church meetings on Tuesday to avoid conflicts, and had letters read from the pulpit encouraging participation.

“We are concerned that citizen participation rates in Utah are among the lowest in the nation,” the letter said, “and urge greater involvement by members of the church in the 2018 election cycle.”

The Mormon leaders also made clear that members may join any party — not just the GOP, although a big majority of Utah Mormons affiliate with that party.

Two years ago, when caucuses included voting for presidential candidates, caucus attendance was high — but so was frustration. Many attendees reported waiting for hours to cast votes, said they could not get into crowded meetings, or gave up because of long lines.