Voters from more than ten states, including Colorado, will declare their preferred presidential party nominee on March 1, also known as Super Tuesday, when more than half the delegates necessary to receive the nomination from each party are given out.
Colorado caucuses for both parties will open doors at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. Voting will begin at 7 p.m. Caucus locations include various high schools, middle schools, and elementary schools across the city.
Democrats
Democrats will vote for their preferred candidate, who receives delegates proportional to the results of the presidential preference poll. The two Democratic candidates are former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.
To find your Democratic Party caucus site, go to the Colorado Democratic Party website and enter the address where you are registered to vote in the “caucus locator” box. You will receive directions to your caucus location from the address you entered.
Republicans
According to Quentin Price, an area coordinator for the Larimer County Republican Party, Colorado Republicans will caucus March 1, but will vote for local delegates who “best represent them” instead of holding a binding presidential preference poll. The five Republican candidates are businessman Donald Trump, Sen. Marco Rubio, Sen. Ted Cruz, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson and Ohio Governor John Kasich.
To find your GOP caucus site in Fort Collins, first find your precinct number from the Colorado Secretary of State website then navigate to the Larimer County Republican Party website to see where your caucus location is.
Things to remember
The Colorado caucuses are closed, which means in order to vote, you must be registered with the political party whose caucus you want to participate in. All caucuses are open to the public for unaffiliated voters, who may observe but cannot take part in the caucus process.
While the Democratic Party will be holding its presidential preference polls as normal, the Republican Party cancelled its preference poll in Colorado but will still hold caucuses to vote for delegates who then represent that precinct in county, state and federal elections.
The most important thing to remember is that caucus-goers can only vote in their registered precinct. If you are registered in Denver, for example, you will not be able to vote in Fort Collins caucuses.
Check the Colorado Secretary of State website to see where you are registered to vote.
Collegian Assistant News Editor Erik Petrovich can be reached at news@collegian.com or via Twitter @EAPetrovich.
