Texas Registered Primary Voters: Dem Party Survey re PrimaCaucus System

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/region/legislature/stories/07//14//0714democrats.html

Nearly half of respondents to a nonscientific survey by the Texas Democratic Party say the party should break from 20 years of selecting presidential delegates starting with primary-night caucuses.

"Delegates should be elected according to the popular vote" at the polls on primary day, one respondent wrote, "not some chaotic second voting meeting."

Last week, a party-appointed task force fielded the results, which include responses from delegates to the party's state convention last month in Austin.

Asked what fraction of delegates should be awarded through the caucuses, 49 percent of respondents (1,367 of 2,784) said none. About 27 percent favored continuing to choose one third of pledged delegates at caucuses, with 9 percent saying half the state's pledged delegates should be selected beginning with caucuses.

To another question, 43 percent said caucuses, now held on primary night, should be held the Saturday after Tuesday primaries. Fifteen percent favored another time.

The tallies could change as more people fill out the questionnaire online at the Texas Democrats' Web site, http://www.txdemocrats.org/page/s/primsurv