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WHY THE CAUCUS?
As the history of the Caucus shows, the Caucus arose in Glencoe primarily to reduce bitterness and divisiveness resulting from a hotly contested election. The goals of the Caucus are to create a process for the selection of candidates which is open and transparent, representative and participatory; to ensure and preserve the integrity of that process; and to choose candidates who are best suited to meet the governance needs of the Village.
Here are the main advantages to the Caucus system:
- Maintains neighborly atmosphere. Part of Glencoe’s charm is the sense of community. The Caucus helps maintain that by reducing the adversarial nature of elections.
- Larger pool of potential candidates. It encourages the kind of people to run who might not be willing to pursue a public campaign against their neighbors or subject themselves to the intrusiveness of a public campaign.
- Thorough selection process. Let’s face it—most people don’t have the time or inclination to really learn about all the candidates and issues affecting each board in Glencoe. The Caucus spends far more time, and covers far more territory, than most people would on their own. It not only follows up with all references supplied by candidates, but seeks, receives, and evaluates input from other Glencoe residents about candidates.
- Broad focus. Candidates are evaluated on many qualities, such as knowledge, skills, experience, personal qualities, leadership, and responsiveness. All of this is done in the context of what will best serve the Village of Glencoe at that time, given current issues and Board make-up.
- Representative. Caucus members are directly elected by their respective precincts. And each Caucus is refreshed with new members and new ideas prior to each election cycle.
- Non-Partisan. Candidates are evaluated individually without respect to political affiliations.
As authors and Glencoe residents Ellen Kettler Paseltiner and Ellen Shubart remind us in Images of America Glencoe Illinois, “The Caucus Plan’s motto is ‘the job seeks the man (woman), 'the man doesn't seek the job.’”
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