At Slog and the Capitol Hill Blog, they write about the caucuses, and why things go the way they go (crowded). I responded in the comments at CH blog, but I thought it would be worth reposting here at home:
We had a similar problem in Thurston County. At least down here, this is why we stuff a number of precincts into large rooms, rather than splitting them up into classrooms or private homes:
1. Student privacy. School districts are wary about letting a bunch of people they don't know into class rooms because students leave materials behind. So, for outside groups reserving school facilities, they prefer they use the common areas, such as gyms or cafeterias.
2. Americans with Disabilities Act. With public buildings you can be pretty sure that they're ADA compliant. Private homes, not so much.
3. Magnitude of the job to organize caucuses and the lack of people involved in local parties. Did you know that parties were organizing caucuses six months ago? Not many people did, and the volunteers that
were, were likely too busy to call you to see if your home was available.
Just getting one gym nailed down for 20 precincts is hard enough. Getting 20 private homes would be insane. Unfortunately, the on the ground work needed to organize caucuses is being left to fewer and fewer dedicated people.
I'm sorry if this next sentence sounds blunt (I don't intend it to be blunt or rude). If you had a problem with how the caucuses were organized, either make sure we use the primary to allocate delegates in four years or help out with your local Democratic organization.
To be honest, its hard for me to write that last sentence, because during the run up to the caucuses I was about 0 percent help to the group of people doing all the arranging. But, I know it was hard work, and they deserved more help than I (and everyone else) was willing to give them.
