Contact CUI Independent News Staff Writer Yzabelah Roberts at yzabelah.roberts@colorado.edu.
Two lines full of hundreds of anxious voters ready to caucus for the Democratic presidential nomination spilled out from the entrance of Boulder High School and formed a shape similar to a hair-raising insect escaping it’s hiding spot. The traffic was heavy in the small streets surrounding the high school.
As people drove by, they bellowed the name of the candidate they were pulling for or jestingly shouted, “Vote for Trump.” Generally, the majority of the caucus attendees appeared to favor of Sen. Bernie Sanders. Citizens were meeting friends in line who had been waiting for upwards of an hour to start their caucus.
Naropa University graduate student Jacqueline Richards was in support of Sanders.
“Even with the losses, [he] still [has] hope because going against Trump, Bernie is expected to beat him,” Richards said.
Residents talked about how their everyday lives, the country as a whole and its children’s education would be impacted if Trump was sworn in to office. Some people were fearful to imagine what could lie in the distant future; that’s why they made the evening commute and the elongated wait to the entrance of Boulder High School.
People at the front of the line were eager to begin caucusing as they entered the small, congested lobby space. Personnel running the caucus were quick to give out maps as people registered by last name. The maps, tidily designed, had the house district, residents’ precincts and their corresponding room numbers clearly labeled, with a map of the high school on the back page.
As I entered precinct room 878, a small classroom, local residents Mark Collen and Jason Patton had been discussing the potential presidential candidates and the event as it was taking place. Both men were voting for Sanders.
“I remember thinking that I liked Obama, but I just didn’t think he could win. And I thought, ‘You know what, I’m going to caucus for Obama,’ and it felt good, and then it became a reality, it seems like,” Collen said. “Man, I remember the day he was elected and it was amazing. I don’t know if Bernie can win, but in this stage in the game you’ve got to go with what you want.”
Patton discussed his reasoning for caucusing for Sanders as he reflected his time spent in military service.
“I went to war; I don’t want to get into a [expletive] other war. I’ve lost some good friends of mine. We don’t need that — we don’t need it as a country, we don’t need it as a culture, we don’t need it as a people. We’re not going anywhere in the Middle East; I’ve been there, I’ve seen what it’s like,” Patton said.
“I’m ready to bring them home. They don’t have an interest in fighting a war for capitalism, something that amounts to modern imperialism. Bernie’s not about it, that’s the biggest reason I’m voting for him: for my buddies that aren’t there any more.”
Residents present at the caucus expressed that this election is an important one to participate in for the safety and security of America’s future.
Boulder residents who attended the caucus were passionately campaigning for their favored candidate, and were in good spirits despite the long lines and crowded conditions.
