Northern Minnesota Rocks The Vote During Caucus Night

Tonight is caucus night. Voters from all over the state turned out to be heard in what’s going to be a big year for Minnesota government.

There are many big seats up for grabs in the Minnesota races. Many politicians from both sides are vying for the governor’s seat. A special election is also being held this year to fill former senator Al Franken’s seat. There are also four or more congressional races happening.

Rich Siegert, the Beltrami County Republican chair says, “It’s caucus night, so we want a lot of discussion going on for each township that’s here and talk about what they wanna see and do. They can also propose resolutions for the state platform and what they want the Republican Party to represent them in Congress.”

At the caucuses, individuals were given the chance to speak up for the candidates they felt were best suited for the job. Both Democrats and Republicans are also getting ready for their county conventions coming up later this year. Delegates were chosen from the attendees in each of the groups tonight. Those delegates will be assigned to attend the nominating conventions in June.

Andrew Hokanson, a student who attended the DFL caucus says, “Democracy is the foundation of our country, and it’s really important that everyone gets out and votes and participates because it’s a right that we’re granted that’s not available in a lot of other parts of the world, so we should take advantage of the right that we have.”

Both groups said they were hoping for big turnouts in both the caucuses and the later conventions. Ballets were due tonight at 9.