The Maine Democratic Party office in Augusta was bustling Wednesday as the demand for absentee ballots for this weekend’s caucuses have more than quadrupled compared to four years ago.Click here to watch the report.“What we’re seeing is a lot of enthusiasm for folks who support Hillary or who support Bernie, which is great,” said Phil Bartlett, chairman of the Maine Democratic Party.The process will play out inside school gymnasiums and municipal buildings across Maine.During the caucuses, Clinton supporters will go to one side of the room, and Sanders supporters will go to the other side of the room. Then, it’s a game of who’s left.“For us, it’s an opportunity to help to build the organization, to identify and recruit volunteers, and really for folks to interact with their friends and neighbors in a way that we rarely have an opportunity to do,” Barlett said.People who attend the Democratic caucuses select delegates to represent them at the state convention in Portland in May. Any candidate whose support breaks the 15 percent threshold at the state convention gets proportional representation at the July national convention in Philadelphia.Of the 30 delegates Maine will send to the national convention, five will be superdelegates, who are not bound by caucus results.“Never have the unpledged delegates not followed the will of the pledged delegates. They’ve never changed the results, and it’s unlikely that they ever would,” Barlett said.University of Southern Maine professor Ron Schmidt said the superdelegates aren’t just there as a built-in control over the nominating process.“The parties are really, really big, sprawling organizations with lots of different populations and groups, and not all of them participate in caucuses, but all of them deserve to have their interests looked after,” Schmidt said.To find the location for your Democratic caucus on Sunday, visit http://www.mainedems.org/splash.

The Maine Democratic Party office in Augusta was bustling Wednesday as the demand for absentee ballots for this weekend’s caucuses have more than quadrupled compared to four years ago.

Click here to watch the report.


“What we’re seeing is a lot of enthusiasm for folks who support Hillary or who support Bernie, which is great,” said Phil Bartlett, chairman of the Maine Democratic Party.

The process will play out inside school gymnasiums and municipal buildings across Maine.

During the caucuses, Clinton supporters will go to one side of the room, and Sanders supporters will go to the other side of the room. Then, it’s a game of who’s left.

“For us, it’s an opportunity to help to build the organization, to identify and recruit volunteers, and really for folks to interact with their friends and neighbors in a way that we rarely have an opportunity to do,” Barlett said.

People who attend the Democratic caucuses select delegates to represent them at the state convention in Portland in May. Any candidate whose support breaks the 15 percent threshold at the state convention gets proportional representation at the July national convention in Philadelphia.

Of the 30 delegates Maine will send to the national convention, five will be superdelegates, who are not bound by caucus results.

“Never have the unpledged delegates not followed the will of the pledged delegates. They’ve never changed the results, and it’s unlikely that they ever would,” Barlett said.

University of Southern Maine professor Ron Schmidt said the superdelegates aren’t just there as a built-in control over the nominating process.

“The parties are really, really big, sprawling organizations with lots of different populations and groups, and not all of them participate in caucuses, but all of them deserve to have their interests looked after,” Schmidt said.

To find the location for your Democratic caucus on Sunday, visit http://www.mainedems.org/splash.