Parties begin to choose presidential candidates

Three of the political parties that are active in Missouri will have their parties’ faithful to decide who will be the preferred presidential candidate for the state.

The Republican caucus for Nodaway County will be Saturday, March 2 in the Nodaway County Administration Center. The doors will be open at 8 am and will close at 10 am, when the caucus will begin with the closing of the caucus to be at 12 noon or until the business of caucus is finalized. All participants must be Nodaway County registered Republican voters and have an official government ID.

The Nodaway County Democrat party’s caucus will be finalized at 10 am, Saturday, March 23.

The Libertarians of Missouri will choose their delegates at the party convention from 9 am to 5 pm, Saturday, February 24 at the Holiday Inn Earth City in St. Louis.

Republican caucus

Modeled after the Iowa and Nevada caucuses, the Missouri Republican caucus could feature volunteers and paid staffers advocating on behalf of presidential candidates. Volunteers and staffers will give oral presentations to participants, who will then divide themselves into groups based on their preferred candidate.

If any group has less than 15 percent of the total votes in the room, the group and its candidate are eliminated. Eliminated voters may join another candidate’s group, and votes are then recounted.

After votes are taken, the caucus will discuss the Republican party platform. Voters may introduce amendments to the party platform, and if an amendment receives a majority of participants’ support, it will move on to the Congressional district convention for further consideration in April.

Democratic primary

The Missouri Democrat Party is opting for a primary election with mail-in votes encouraged and in-person voting available at limited locations on the morning of March 23. Mail-in ballots can be requested by registered Democrats through March 12 on the party’s website, missouridemocrats.org,  or by phone, 573.777.1364. Missouri Democrats Executive Director Matthew Patterson contends his party’s process will enfranchise more people than the caucus system the Missouri Republicans opted for.

“The old style caucus … excludes people from the system and from being able to have their voices heard,” said Patterson.

The Democrats will accept mail-in ballots until 10 am, March 23.

Libertarian Party process

The Libertarian Party will run a third-party presidential candidate this year, as well. Candidates for president and vice president will be chosen by Libertarian delegates at the party’s national convention in Washington DC in May.

Randy Langkraehr, vice chair of the Missouri Libertarian Party, said that changes to the Republican presidential selection process have had no influence on the strategy of his party.

“At the state level, we have done absolutely nothing about this,” Langkraehr said. “We do not want to try to infiltrate, and we don’t want to try to be Republican. We don’t want to be Democrats. We want to be Libertarian.”

Langkraehr encouraged Missourians to contact the party and apply to be delegates for Missouri’s state party convention in St. Louis.

There, party delegates will choose from amongst themselves who to send to the national convention, where delegates will choose a presidential candidate.

Some information of the state political parties was taken from The Independent.