Alaska, Hawaii, and Washington Caucuses Results Mega Thread

From a Hillary supporter on facebook:

Benjamin Biffis 9 hrs · Oberlin, OH, United States · CONGRATS to ‪#‎BernieSanders‬ on his wins tonight. Now, before y’all go crazy, I think it is important to take time to make a few points on the political reality of the Democratic race for president so far: 1. While the delegate counts from today are not quite final, even under the worst case scenario, ‪#‎Hillary‬ will move forward holding a 200+ pledged delegate lead (meaning delegates that were elected by the actual voters) over Sen. Sanders and a 440+ superdelegate lead (which include distinguished party leaders, and elected officials, including all Democratic members of the House and Senate and sitting Democratic governors), giving her, even after tonight, a 640+ delegate lead. 640+ more folks! 2. After Super Tuesday II, it was predicted that Bernie would go on to sweep the following 7-8 races so no real surprises by tonight’s victories. Many of the states he won have a. relatively small populations and b. populations that favor him (i.e. predominantly white). 3. It comes as no surprise that ‪#‎Bernie‬ has always done well in caucuses which inherently tend to favor party activists and those with the resources to commit hours of their time to caucus. (SPEAKING OF CAUCUSES, I would like to highlight that these caucuses are one of the most undemocratic methods of electing officials and rationing out delegates. Let me explain: FIRST, there is no secret ballot. I repeat: there is no secret ballot!!. What happens when you caucus is that you have to go stand with the candidate you support while others try and pressure you to switch your support. This means that you don't get to make your decision in private, there is no secret ballot or comfort of the voting booth, and you are subject to having your friends, family and neighbors try and pressure you to vote for the candidate they support. The peer pressure and other pressures at caucuses seem quite problematic and undemocratic, and favors those who can best pressure others to follow them, rightly or wrongly. SECONDLY, in order to caucus, one must show up at a specific time and have the time and means to spend several hours (and often many hours) participating and trying to choose your candidate. This means that if you have a job that forces you to work during that particular time, or if you cannot get transportation at that specific time, too bad! You do not get to participate. At all. Unlike primary elections in which polls are open all day long and one can show up at any time, spend a short period of time, and cast a ballot, in caucuses like Washington’s ( ‪#‎WACaucus‬ ), you have to show up at a specific time (10am in this case), and have to sit there for hours while a decision is made. This makes it harder for minorities and poorer people who cannot get time off from work, and makes it harder for those who cannot get to their caucus locations (since there are typically less caucus locations than there are general voting precincts, making the distance for voters greater). The end result is that turnout is significantly lower than when primaries are used (check the stats!), the elections are less representative, there is not secret ballot, and certain segments of the population are shut out entirely from participating due to work/other obligations. All of this is not to say that Bernie did not win overwhelmingly tonight. He did. But, rather, I wish to highlight that his wins tonight really do not change the underlying dynamics of this race and the fact that he is going to quickly be moving into territory that is not quiiiite so favorable to him in the coming weeks wink emoticon (i.e. New York, PA, NJ, and CA). Onwards! ‪#‎HillYes‬ ‪#‎ImWithHer‬ (http://www.nytimes.com/…/clinton-sanders-democratic-delegat…).

If you guys have some rebuttals I'm happy to post them.

/r/SandersForPresident Thread