In school gyms and other locations, Democrats in Pierce County will gather later this month as part of a statewide effort to help pick their party's nominee for president. Precinct caucuses will be held March 26, beginning at 10 a.m. Depending on where their voter precinct is assigned, participants from the south Pierce County area will gather at Eatonville High School, Silver Creek Retirement Community and Orting High School if they're residents of the Second Legislative District. For certain residents of the 28th and 29th districts, Spanaway Lake High School will be the meeting place. A complete list of caucus locations, and who should attend where, is on the Pierce County Democratic Central Committee's web site (piercecountydems.org). The precinct events are the first in a process that will lead to the selection of delegates representing Washington at the Democrats' national nominating convention this July. Participants in precinct caucuses will state their cases for who they think should be the next president. Supporters of Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders GÇô one of whom is the party's presumptive nominee GÇô will give a pitch to undecided voters in an effort to sway them to their side before voting by the caucus groups. Using the results of voting, delegates will be allotted to candidates, and each group of caucus participants will choose delegates to participate in caucuses at the legislative district and congressional district levels. They'll also discuss issues for the state convention that will be held June 17-19 in Tacoma, which is when national delegates will be picked. The Republican Party staged its precinct caucuses Feb. 20 in similar fashion. But their results are different from the Democrats in that they have no bearing on the eventual selections of national delegates from Washington. The Republican Party will use Washington's presidential primary election on May 24 to allocate 100 percent of its convention delegates. Conversely, the primary results will have no bearing on the Democrats' allocation of delegates. They will rely solely on the results of the precinct caucuses. Democratic Party leaders in Washington say caucuses foster more involvement than having people cast ballots from home. In addition, by caucusing on March 26, Washington will be part of a "regional clusterGÇ¥ with Hawaii and Alaska, which grants a 15 percent bonus to Washington's total of national delegates.
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