More than 90,000 people preregistered to attend the Washington Democratic caucus this weekend, according to a spokesman for Washington State Democrats.
A total of 101 delegates are at stake on Saturday. Hillary Clinton has a lead of more than 300 delegates over Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. It takes 2,383 delegates to win the Democratic nomination.
<strong>Why is there a caucus?</strong>
Washington State Democrats do not use the state-run primary to choose its presidential nominee. Instead, Democrats who want to have a part in choosing the next president attend precinct caucuses, which will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday.
To learn how Washington State Republicans choose delegates to their national convention, click here.
<strong>What is a precinct caucus?</strong>
Precinct caucuses are local meetings of people in the same political party. They discuss their opinions on the presidential race, then vote for a presidential nominee.
<strong>How long will it take?</strong>
The meeting should take no longer than 2 hours, and some locations may take less time than that.
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The Washington State Democrats’ process for selecting delegates has four steps. Saturday is just step one.
<strong>Step one:</strong> Precinct caucuses will be held Saturday. The Washington Democrats will be choosing 27,162 delegates for its county and legislative district caucuses, where 1,400 people will be chosen to move on to its congressional district caucuses.
<strong>Step two:</strong> Legislative district caucuses – which will elect delegates and alternates to the congressional district caucuses and state convention – are April 17. The county conventions, which address resolutions and might adopt a platform, are held May 1.
<strong>Step four:</strong> National convention: Delegates and alternates elected at the congressional district caucuses and the state convention will attend the 2016 national convention, which will be held July 25-28 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
For more quick links, go to the Washington State Democrats' caucus website.