Houston Dispatch
March 29th, 2008 at 10:57 pm
Democracy Inaction at Senate District Six by Emily DePrang
Full results can be found at Burnt Orange Report
Over a thousand delegates and an unknown number of alternates converged today on the George R. Brown Convention Center in downtown Houston to wait for literally eight hours to begin voting. While an unexpectedly large number of delegates turned out, precinct chairs from several small precincts did not show up at all, and a quorum wasn’t declared until 1:15 p.m. That’s when officials in the Credentials committee started tabulating the registration paperwork to come up with a temporary delegate roll, which was needed before any voting could happen. Despite explicit instructions not to, several precincts decided on their delegates amongst themselves, turned in their ballots to their precinct captains, and went home.
By 5:00, the hall started to feel like the Breakfast Club, like the full spectrum of Democrats got sentenced to Saturday detention and hung out together for long enough that they learned they’re more alike than different.
The feeling lasted until someone actually took the podium and read the delegate count. “Of 1152 delegates, 513 went to Obama…” the speaker said to a deathly quiet room, because everyone knows that’s not enough. “And 637 to Clinton.” The Clinton camp exploded. The Obama camp was pissed. It’s 45 percent to 55 percent, with two delegates undecided.
