A Republican Caucus is an event that is held every even numbered year. In Utah Caucus is usually held in March or April. At Caucus members of every precinct in Utah will meet to discuss the issues they are concerned about and elect precinct leaders and delegates for the next two years. At the caucus meetings each member of the neighborhood gets a vote for who should represent them at the state and county party conventions. These conventions will determine which candidates move on to the general election in November. A delegate that is elected at caucus will spend the time between caucus night and the state and county conventions vetting candidates to make sure that they vote for the one that will best address their precincts concerns and represent them. Because of this vetting process, precinct members should make sure to attend caucus night and discuss their concerns with their delegates once elected. This will help frame the questions that delegates will ask candidates when vetting them. Not everyone in the precinct has the time to meet individually with candidates so the process of electing one of your neighbors to represent you, or run for the role yourself, is important. The more people that participate in the process, the better represented your precinct is in choosing who will represent you at the state and federal levels. While every legal voter still gets to vote for the candidate they want in the general election, it is important that you are represented throughout the primary process as well. In most cases, unless there is division at convention as to which candidate to vote for the caucus/convention system will produce one candidate for each role for the general election.
In Utah, the legislature has provided multiple ways for candidates to get their name on the primary. One of them is to gather signatures from any voter in the respective district and bypass the caucus/convention system. We believe this method to not be representative of the people in the district. This is mainly due to the small number of signatures required to bypass the caucus/convention system. At caucus everyone in the district has representation should they choose to participate. In some cases when a candidate gathers signatures, only 1000 people are represented.