For the first time since the 1990s a caucus will be held in Missouri. What does that mean? If you are Republican and want to choose your candidate for the November election you will need to attend this caucus and place your vote. There will be no Presidential primary in Missouri this year!
"The caucus will be held at the Bearcat Event Center on Saturday, March 2nd," commented Chairman of the Stoddard County Republican Central Committee Wayne Jean. "The doors will open as early as 7:30 a.m. Participating in this caucus could take a couple of hours."
Jean said on the day of the caucus people will enter the doors of the BEC and there will be registration tables set up just like an election. At each table there will be an individual with a computer. The caucus participant will check a box indicting they are a registered voter in Stoddard County and check a box indicating they are Republican.
A photo ID is required to register!
Your name will be matched against a list of registered voters in Stoddard County. The list is from the Stoddard County Clerk's Office. Jean also commented that if the voter has not participated in the past few elections their name will not appear on this list.
Once registered, the participant will be asked to go to the BEC gym, sit in the bleachers, and wait for the caucus to begin.
The caucus will begin promptly at 10:00 a.m. The doors will be closed and no one else will be allowed in the BEC. Jean said that people should show up early as it will take a few minutes to register. The Pledge of Allegiance and an invocation will take place. A chairman will then be elected to run the caucus.
Participants in the gym will be separated into groups. If you are wishing to vote for Donal Trump," commented Jean. "You will be asked to move to a confined areas of the gym. If you support another candidate you will be separated for that candidate in a contained area and so forth." There could be more than one group.
Each group will then elect a chairman or spokesperson for their group. A count of the number of people in each group will take place. Each group that does not have more than 15% of the total number of participants in attendance will have to disband. Those individuals can then go home or join another group. Ultimately there will be one group left and this will be the candidate to receive Stoddard County's votes.
Delegates must also be elected at the caucus.
Delegates and alternates will then go to the congressional caucus on April 6th. It is possible the delegates would also be elected to attend the State Convention on May 4th at the Springfield Expo Center. The National republican Convention will be in July in Milwaukee. Delegates will travel at their own expense.
"This will be the only opportunity to vote for who the Republican nominee for President will be," stated Jean. "This does not affect a voters ability to vote in the general election in November. Though attendance is encouraged if a voter does wish to participate in the caucus."
