Make Your Vote Count Twice!

This is the first time in my short voting history where I have felt excited that my vote might actually count for something. For a moderate-liberal who usually votes democrat, living in a "red state" usually means that my vote gets thrown aside and forgotten about. And by the time the democratic primaries have made it to Texas, the candidate has already been chosen.

For the first time, I am seeing potential presidential candidates in TV commercials, visiting Texas, and even debating in my town, at my alma mater! Yes, I'm sure this will get old after awhile, but it's nice to finally be considered.

I have never voted in a primary and when I found out that Texas has a "two-step" process, that confused me even more. For those of you in the same boat as I am, check out the below information:

If you want to make sure your vote really counts (in effect, counts twice) for your candidate of choice, you do in fact need to do two things.

What to do:

1. Cast your vote in the usual way, either by Early Voting or on March 4th
2. At 7:15 PM on March 4th, after the primaries close, head (back) to your polling place. There, you sign a form that indicates your support for your candidate of choice. You can leave then, or you can stick around and help appoint delegates to the State Senate seat convention.

Special note for Austinites: Our State Senate district, represented by Kirk Watson, is the most powerful Democratic district in the state of Texas; we get eight additional delegates in the caucus portion. That's why it's extra-special important that if you feel very, very strongly about your candidate of choice, you need to get your arse to the caucus, stat. You don't have to for your primary vote to count, but if you want more than just party insiders to do the voting at the caucus, go!

For a more lengthy explanation of the delegate choosing process, go here.