Did Someone Say Caucus?
Unless you’ve been living under a literal rock, you’re probably very aware that the Iowa Caucus is tonight and, if you’re like most people, you probably cannot wait for it to be over. If you have no idea what is happening, however, this one’s for you.
But first, let’s acknowledge that this caucus process we’re about to delve into is complicated and how we, as Texans, are lucky that we have up to three weeks (THREE weeks) to cast our vote at the polls. Speaking of which…TODAY is the last day to register to vote for the Texas primary on March 1st. If you haven’t registered yet, download a form, fill it out and pop it in the mail. It’s a lot easier than what Iowans have to do, and they have to do it in the snow.
So, what the hell is a caucus?
The Iowa Caucus is an electoral event where Iowans decide their preferred presidential candidate. The process by which each party selects their candidate may seem effing weird unless you are from a caucus state (ahem, NOT Texas), and that’s because it is.
How does it even work?
You remember when you were in grade school and you would separate into teams for dodgeball? Well, a caucus is oddly similar, minus the part where you’re pelting each other with balls (at least, we hope not).
The Democratic and GOP caucuses operate a little differently from one another, but in both cases, Iowans from the same area convene in small groups, called precincts, kind of like a town hall meeting, to start the process.
The Democratic Caucus: Once everyone has arrived at their caucus precinct, they break up into preference groups, meaning that supporters of each candidate physically stand together. For example, supporters of Hillary Clinton might be Group 1, supporters of Bernie Sanders are Group 2, supporters of Martin O’Malley form Group 3 and, if there are undecided voters in the room, they form their own group. Then, caucus leaders do a head count. If a candidate fails to get at least 15% of the caucus, they aren’t considered a viable candidate. Then everyone has a half hour to convince supporters of the unviable candidate’s group and the undecided voters to join their candidate’s preference group instead, which is then followed by yet another head count. All the caucuses across the state will then be left with only those candidate’s preference groups that met the required percentage. The idea is that the more support a candidate has in caucuses across the state, the better their chances are that they’ll win Iowa in the presidential election.
The Republican Caucus: Slightly less complicated than the democratic caucus, republicans simply write down who they prefer on a slip of paper and the results from each precinct are sent to the GOP headquarters. The results from each caucus determine how many delegates are sent to the national convention (aka 1%).
Is it worth the effort?
While we’re already tired of saying and reading the word caucus, it sounds like it could be a lot of fun to take part in a crazy tradition where you *gasp* have to hang out with your fellow townspeople and debate the merits of a candidate, not to mention the importance of doing your civic duty. Imagine what it would be like if this were a Texas tradition! Maybe then we wouldn’t be ranked dead last for voter turnout. Motivated? Good. Go vote!
.jpg){kind=link}