Yesterday (March 24, 2004), Utah held party neighborhood caucus meetings (what is the plural of caucus?), and Brad, Ezra, and I participated. For all three of us, it was our first such event. Our caucus was held at the local high school, Mt. View, just down the street.

We are in the 49th Precinct of Orem. This was practically the only thing I knew as we went in. The meeting turned out to be a combination of what I expected and what I never expected. Our precinct met in Mr. Cooper's Spanish classroom--a typical sized room with desks attached to chairs. By the time we arrived, most of the seats were already taken. We managed to get one seat, and Brad sat on the floor. Although there were already 40-50 people there when we arrived, at least 40 more came after us. We were spilling into the hallway, and people were sitting on the floor, file cabinets, bookcases. It was also very hot in that room. (Thank heavens for nice, thick campaign literature! They make marvelous fans.)

The meeting was far more relaxed than I anticipated, despite the "second the motion" and "move to close". Although it took more than two hours, I was never bored. (Of course that may have had more to do with playing with Ezra than anything that was said at the meeting.) The main question to the delegate nominees was about school tuition vouchers, and there was a lot of discussion about that topic. Our precinct gets four county delegates and two state delegates, and three of the county delegates are from our ward.

So what did I learn? Well, I'm really glad we went, because now I understand what a delegate is, how they are chosen, etc. I'm also glad we went to support the political process, especially after the First Presidency asked us to go if possible. I'm not sure I'm more educated for this upcoming election, but I do think I'm more prepared for future elections.