While the old adage "If you don't vote you can't complain" generally holds true, if you really, really want to complain be sure to attend party caucuses on Tuesday.

"People need to be more curious about what's going on around them," said Elaine Winger, a Provo resident and longtime caucus-goer.

Winger said she is constantly surprised how many neighbors are in the dark about one of the most basic, and most important, processes of a democratic system.

"If people got involved and tried to find out what it is, I think they would be more concerned about what is going on," she said.

The roots of grassroots

Don't know what a caucus is? A caucus is a group of voters in a precinct who get together to talk out political issues. The size can range from a dozen people in a home to a hundred in a school gym. Attendees are supposed to be members of the same party, though gaming the system with the opposition isn't unheard of. (A bit more on that later.)

The caucus then votes for a delegate who best represents the ideas and values previously discussed.

"They are what drive the party and the candidates in the future," says David Cox, a former four-term state representative from Utah County and caucus leader for eight years. "A candidate is much more likely to listen to a delegate than a constituent."

That's because the delegate then goes to the party's county convention in May and helps choose candidates for the primary or general elections. It's here that a crushingly predominant party makes the real decisions. For example, if the convention chooses a candidate by more than 60 percent, that person skips the primary and goes straight to the general election. Because Utah County hasn't elected a non-Republican based here for more than a decade, a GOP candidate coming out of the convention all alone has a perfect record in the general election. If you can't settle a future election via caucus delegates, you can at least get your ideas out there.

That's the push of the Democratic Party this year. There are plenty of interested people who aren't party members, even some Republicans who feel disenfranchised, said Utah County Democratic Party Chairman Richard Davis. The party is open to "people looking for a home."

The voice of the few?

A question that repeatedly arises is whether convention delegates, and the caucuses that sent them there, are an accurate representation of the public.

Cox doesn't think so.

"It's probable in both parties that the extremists tend to rule," he said.

It's for that reason he continues to attend caucus meetings.

"I want to be there because I want to have a well-rounded person representing me as a delegate," he said. "Paranoid people bother me."

The low-turnout nature of caucuses also leaves a better chance of skewing votes.

"The parties do have an interest in preventing members from one party raiding the meetings of the other party," said Todd Taylor, the executive director of the Utah Democratic Party, via e-mail. "Obviously that can't happen if we are both holding our meetings at the same time. So, this is one area that we regularly coordinate our schedules."

Cox said he rarely, if ever sees cross-party tampering but occasionally sees a caucus meeting flooded with people interested in a particular issue. Several years ago at the height of the bank/credit union wars, he said there was a concerted effort to fill caucuses with people who would favor one side or the other.

This year, there remains some vestiges of the voucher debate. Public educators have made no bones about trying to throw out lawmakers who pushed the failed voucher proposal, while on Friday the pro-voucher side sent out a mass e-mail stating: "The teachers union is hoping their supporters will be elected as delegates on Tuesday night so that their candidates will be on the ballot in November, instead of legislators who are committed to reforming our education system for the better."

Standing room only?

As the county's population grows, so has attendance at caucuses. Cox said what used to be a dozen people in a home has turned into 60 or more in a school gym. The Democrats have nearly tripled the number of caucuses they had a few years ago, though it may be putting the cart before the horse.

"One solution is to see if they will come if we bring it closer to where they are," Davis said.

He said the party wants to keep caucuses small because it allows for more intimate conversations.

Whatever the size of the room, however many people are in it, Cox sees a disturbing trend. "One thing that worries me is we're starting to get more and more people who don't trust the government ... even if they elect them," he said. "It's difficult then for even good people to govern."