What does it mean to "caucus"?

[ebacon]

What does caucus mean in the context of election day? I am hearing the word caucus and it is going in one ear and out the other.

My only understanding of caucasing is in the context of a primary. I understand it as candidates meeting with potential supporters and discussing their platform with them.

[donquixote99]

Not it. A caucus is a subset of a larger group, the members of a particular party or faction within the group. For group, think 'legislature' of 'House of Representatives,' though it could be any body that gets together and decides things by voting. To caucus, literally, is for all the people in a particular faction to get together and have their own meeting to decide how they are going to vote as a group.

It's mainly coming up in the news, I think, with respect to Independent Greg Orman in Kansas, who has been cagey about which party he will 'caucus with' if elected to the Senate.

[ebacon]

Thanks. Your description makes sense. The newscasters seem to be interchangeably using the words "caucus" and "voting with".

[merrylander]

It is also how they vote in Iowa where they seem not to like the secret ballot. The end result is that a lot of pressure is put on the minority voter. Democracy it is not.