"Hate the Caucus"

[pnwmom]

All this is probably why so few Iowans bother to participate -- many fewer than participate in primary states.

http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/anderson.cooper.360/blog/2008/01/hate-caucus.html

In a normal place, we go to the polls, choose the person we want, punch, pull, or tap, and then go home.

But, no! Not the Iowa Democrats.

First, you must show up by 7 p.m. If you get to your caucus location by 7:01 p.m., you can't vote. Then you have to stand on a side for your candidate. So, Obama supporters go to one corner and then Clinton's folks go elsewhere and so on.

After people go back and forth over their choice, including debating the issues, those candidates that don't get 15% of the vote then are allowed to move to another candidate. That means Edwards may be ahead in the first round, but after the shuffle, he gets overtaken by Clinton.

Then it gets even more stupid.

Instead of the person with the most votes winning, we go to a weighted system. That's right. The caucus location gets a number of delegates based on the LAST presidential election. So one location might have a huge influx of folks showing up, but it won't matter in terms of influence. It won't take effect until FOUR YEARS FROM NOW. How is that fair?

[Bjornsdotter]

1. I've always thought it was the dumbest

...method. Then again I also think we should all vote in our primaries on the same day. The reasons of logistics don't really seem to apply as they did 100 years ago.

[Recursion]

2. It's because caucuses do a lot more than nominate a candidate

They select the people who ultimately will be the state party infrastructure for the next four years.

There are pros and cons to the caucus system. The cons are pretty obvious; the pros are that it gives people an incentive to actually do party-building grunt work over the long haul.

[SheilaT]

3. Iowa is hardly the only state

to do caucuses. It's just the only one anyone pays attention to.

Personally, I love caucuses and have participated in them in two different states.

[pnwmom]

8. My state does. And I've hated them since I attended the first one.

It's an incredibly stupid way to choose a candidate. And also very unfair to those who, because of their circumstances, can't get to the caucus site at that particular time and place, or don't speak English well enough to participate.

[SheilaT]

9. I have participated in them in two different states

and I happen to like them myself.

I do recognize that they do shut out anyone who can't possibly be free during that small window of time, and perhaps caucus states could find a way to hold the caucuses over a longer period of time. Or you could try to persuade your state's Democratic Party to switch to a primary.

My state, New Mexico, will be holding it's primary in June. Not very likely we don't know who the nominee is going to be at that point.

[pnwmom]

10. You have to show up on time and stay there for 4 hours. And you can't have a

secret ballot, you can't be an out-of-state student, and you have to be part of an in-person bullying process where people try to make each other change votes.

And believe me, some supporters are as obnoxious as any of the worst online, but you have no choice but to deal with them. For hours. In person.

And what would it be like if your spouse or partner supported another candidate and you didn't want him to know? You wouldn't have that option.

My state does have a Democratic primary but it's a beauty contest only because the powers-that-be want to keep the real power to themselves -- so the delegates get allocated by the caucuses. The Rethugs are actually better than we are in this respect, because they choose delegates in their primary.

[SheilaT]

16. As it happens, my experiences with caucuses

have not been so terrible. And I've never had the need to keep my spouse or partner in the dark as to who I'm voting for. But I do understand your complaints.

All I can say, is move to a state with a primary or try to convince your state's Democratic Party to switching to a primary.

One of the things I like best about a caucus state is that it makes it possible for people not party insiders to go to the National Convention. I almost got there twice, and would have no chance whatsoever in a primary state.

[pnwmom]

18. What I hate about the system is that it's designed to suppress large scale participation.

Instead of encouraging voter turnout, it does the opposite.

We voted in a primary system a number of years ago -- I worked to help get that passed -- but we couldn't get the Democratic leadership to accept it. So the Republicans get a real primary and we're stuck with a meaningless beauty contest.

[catnhatnh]

4. Translation:

Bernie is going to win Iowa.

[pnwmom]

6. I was happy to see Obama win in 2008 and I STILL hated our caucuses.

I have since the first time I've been to one. There's no excuse for that system in this day and age. It is designed to discourage voter participation and no one should support it.

[JRLeft]

17. I agree with you, I feel like the process isn't democratic.

[hobbit709]

5. If it's so meaningless why are the Hillbots in such a dither?

[pnwmom]

7. They assign delegates and delegates aren't meaningless. But the reason

other states switched over to primaries is because they allow for much greater voter participation. Caucuses are designed for voter suppression.

If you're disabled, elderly, don't have strong English skills, travel out of state for work or college, or have to work that day -- tough luck. You don't get a vote. Most states switched to primaries because primaries are much more inclusive -- and therefore much more fair.

[bigwillq]

11. I don't think I would want to caucus

I like how I vote in CT.

[pnwmom]

12. It's a four hour process here, from 10 am to 2 pm on Saturday.

That alone would be enough to discourage most people -- which is obviously the idea.

[bigwillq]

13. Yea, no thanks to that process (nt)

[pnwmom]

14. And that's actually just the beginning. At my first caucus, I'll never forget

the shock of finding out that, for the next step, we had to choose reps to go caucus again on another Saturday, in an all-day meeting at the State Capitol (hours away).

Not surprisingly, after hours of caucusing that evening, my exhausted group had no interested volunteers. So a person who voted for a DIFFERENT candidate offered to go instead of one of us, and said she'd vote for our guy. And we had to just cross our fingers and hope she did -- because none of us were going to spend another Saturday at an all-day caucus. (And that wouldn't have been the end, either)

[bigwillq]

15. I would never vote. I work weekends.

I usually vote before going into work. Takes me two minutes and then I'm on my way.

[pnwmom]

19. And my mother is in a wheelchair and they're not bound by the ADA.

Not that she'd want to spend 4 hours there anyway. But my son is being excluded because he's out of state in college, and he's not happy about that. Unfortunately, he can't vote there because then we'd have to pay out of state fees for him to take summer classes at our state university.