Election 2014 Begins: Caucus Locations Announced for Tuesday, Feb. 4

Minnesota political parties are gearing up for the state's caucus night on Tuesday, Feb. 4.

Caucus sites for Richfield residents include:

• DFL— Senate District 50 at Richfield Middle School; Senate District 63 at Richfield STEM (formerly Richfield Intermediate). Both meetings begin promptly at 7 p.m.
• Republican (GOP)— SD50 (west and south Richfield) is meeting at 7 p.m. at Richfield High School. http://www.sd50.org/; Senate District 63 is also meeting at RHS. Rooms are to be determined so follow instructions on site.  
• Independence—  7 p.m., meeting room, Augsburg Park Library. For those who can’t make it, an online caucus can be found here.

All precincts will caucus at their respective locations and all caucuses begin at 7 p.m. Richfield Patch will be posting what's happening around town with posts on social media and our website on Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning.

WHAT'S A CAUCUS?

A caucus helps a political party gain consensus as to how voters have aligned their political and candidate preferences.

But at a caucus, there’s more going on than just candidate selection. Participants sometimes select county committee chairs that go to a state—and sometimes national—convention.

What distinguishes a caucus from a primary is that at a primary, voters don’t have to be present at one particular location at a specific time. For a primary, voters just go to their polling place and cast a vote, the same as they would do at a general election.

For a caucus, you have to be physically present at your designated caucus site, register, show your party affiliation and then participate in the process. Attendees participate directly.

To take part in a caucus, you must be eligible to vote in the 2012 general election and live in the precinct.

Each party has its own rules and guidelines it follows.

Additional caucus information—including a caucus finder—can be found on the Minnesota Secretary of State website by clicking here.