Having purchased a Maine property in 2003 and become a full-time resident in 2004, I subsequently registered to vote as an enrolled party member.

My first, and only, caucus experience was as a Democrat in 2008, wherein I wanted to support Hillary Clinton over Barack Obama.

Having come from an open primary state, I found it a horrendous experience in that the voting venue was arbitrarily changed at the last moment and access to the venue was limited by who was first in line and building capacity. I vowed then to never attend another caucus, to become a disenfranchised voter and to wait for a legal and proper primary system.

Fast forward to election year 2016. The Portland Democratic caucus venue reportedly experienced half-mile voting lines and up to four-hour voting waits. No elderly or handicapped people were shown in the news reports, and there was an apparent disenfranchising of many voters.

It is the view of this writer that the election win by Bernie Sanders is tainted by the obvious generational gap, enabling younger and more able-bodied people to access voting venues, to the detriment of older and handicapped voters.

Frederic W. Coulon

Rockport


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