How to be a delegate

To be elected a delegate you attend your neighborhood caucus meeting and declare your desire to run as a delegate. You can have someone nominate you but you can also nominate yourself. Different precincts are allotted different amount of delegates chosen by how many delegates in previous years were active and also dependent on your population. If there are more candidates than spots you may have to tell the group why you are interested in becoming a delegate to sway them to voting for you.

*Duties of a delegate*
To show up and participate in the respective political conventions. A state delegate will have a State convention to attend. These can be long events. They are usually longer when there is a statewide race being contested. If you have a race with several candidates of the same party running, you will have the opportunity to vote on candidates during the convention. There will likely be several rounds of voting to eliminate various candidates. A candidate must have a 2/3 vote to avoid a primary election. If a candidate is unable to get the needed votes the two remaining candidates will head to a primary election.

As a delegate you will be bombarded with campaign material and opportunities to meet the candidates. You will also receive lots of phone calls and mail. Consider this fun. It's like being a mini-celebrity. :) It is a good idea to really investigate the candidates so you know who you like best but also who your next choice would be. Sometimes first choice candidates get voted out in the first round.

One other 'bonus' is you will likely be on all the 'important' politician's Christmas card lists until the end of time. Think of this as wrapping paper.

Ok so I've been a bit tongue in cheek. But the important part is to see that the process weeds out so many candidates before the public gets a chance to even vote.

This year Bob Bennett is seeking reelection for Senator. He has at least 3 Republicans running against him (might be 4 I'm tired and can't remember). There is no guarantee that he will make it through the convention and who knows you might not want him too. The one thing to note though is that those with extreme views one way or the other will be vying for spots as delegates. And that sometimes kicks more mainstream candidates to the curb because they either have to 'act' like the extremist or risk getting ousted in convention. This is similar to what happened to Mitt Romney in the last presidential campaign. Most observers thought Romney would do better with a more mainstream group but since he had to get through the primaries that leaned heavily against him he had no chance.

Duties are similar on the county level but the effect is felt much closer. You will be deciding things like County commissioners, Treasurers, Auditors, Sheriffs and the like.

And, while usually there is just the one meeting per year, (Yes there will be one next year in the off election cycle and it is also very important to attend) you may be called upon to replace a candidate that has resigned for whatever reason. (We had two very high profile legislators this session do that very thing.)

Your term of service is 2 years. You get paid nothing. You can make a world of difference.

And really, it's a great spectator sport.