People who attended Democratic presidential caucuses in Island County Saturday echoed the sentiments of caucus-goers statewide.

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders claimed a victory over Hillary Clinton at all four caucus sites in the county. That was particularly true in Oak Harbor, where Sanders received 72 delegates and Clinton 21.

In statewide totals, Sanders received 73 percent of the vote at caucuses while Clinton got 27 percent.

Still, people spoke passionately about both candidates during the caucus at Oak Harbor Middle School, which drew more than 600 residents.

Young men and women, couples with children, elderly folks and others crowded into groups by precinct and took turns speaking, trying to convince their neighbors to support their candidates.

“He has ideas,” Shannon Olson, a Sanders supporter, told her precinct. “Taxing Wall Street is not a bad policy. We bailed them out.”

“It’s time for them to bail us out.”

Diane Barner, on the other hand, argued that Clinton is the smart choice in ensuring that a Democrat makes it into the White House.

She said Sanders’ ideas aren’t practical.

“Pie in the sky is not going to get it done,” she said. “It’s just going to separate the nation further.”

Angie Homola, former commissioner and current state senator candidate, was in charge of the caucus in Oak Harbor.

It went well, with regular folks ardently and civilly advocating for their candidate.

“It was the epitome of the democratic process,” she said.

According to numbers released by the Island County Democrats, Sanders took home 219 delegates to Clinton’s 97 delegates. Besides Oak Harbor, Sanders claimed 74 delegates on South Whidbey to Clinton’s 33; 32 delegates in Coupeville to Clinton’s 14, 72 delegates in Oak Harbor to Clinton’s 21, and 41 delegates on Camano to Clinton’s 29.

Of the four locations, South Whidbey had the largest turnout by far with 1,547 participants. So many people showed up that some precincts spilled into the courtyard outside the South Whidbey High School and cars were parked on Maxwelton Road all the way to the light at the highway.

In addition, Coupeville had 569 participants, Oak Harbor 611, and Camano Island 631.

Including surrogate votes — absentee ballots — about 3,360 people participated in the caucuses. That’s about 800 more people than the 2,560 at the county’s 2008 caucuses.

Statewide, the caucuses elect about 27,000 delegates, which are then cut legislative district caucuses and county conventions to 1,400 delegates.

The final delegates to the national convention in July are picked at congressional district caucuses and the state convention in May to arrive at the final 118.

The Republicans will divide up 44 delegates to send to their national convention based on results of the state’s May 24 presidential primary.

Sanders and Clinton also will appear on primary ballots, but the vote will have no effect on delegates for the Democratic candidates.

South Whidbey Record Editor Justin Burnett contributed to the story.