Obama Meets With Prospective 2020 Dem Presidential Candidates. Oh My!

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22. Caucuses are about the least democratic structures there are.

We saw during the last election how the caucuses don't reflect the true makeup of the voters, OR accommodate many of them. The caucuses work ONLY if you can GET yourself to the caucuses in the first place.

If you're free to stick around ALL EVENING LONG, withstand all the inter-group lobbying, and hang on til the end when the vote is finally taken,

If you don't have to worry about babysitters,

If you don't have to worry about transportation (more difficult for the elderly),

If you're not snowed in and thus rendered unable to leave home (the Iowa caucuses happen in the middle of winter),

If you're a student of voting age who doesn't have homework due or tests scheduled for the next day - as many college-age students did (hell, I read a story in one of the newspapers in which a reporter covering the Iowa caucuses interviewed three college-age dudes, who had their own candidate and issue preferences. They had lots of very credible things to say, until the reporter asked each of them whether they were going to attend. One of them hadn't made up his mind, and the other two claimed to have waterpolo practice that same night),

If it means you have to stand in some cold gymnasium ALL EVENING (kinda hard when you're frail or ailing to some degree, or elderly - assuming you can even get there, physically). As I saw repeatedly, when I read reports about the caucuses, there are never enough chairs available to let you get off your feet - not only for the elderly but for young parents who are forced to take their kids with them and try to keep them corralled all evening,

Then you're basically screwed. You won't be present for the end-of-the-night voting (no, in many cases you're not allowed to arrive when it's convenient for you, cast your vote, and then leave. You have to stick around all evening long, and listen to the discussions and the lobbying by various spokespeople or campaign activists before you're allowed to vote. And the voting doesn't occur til the end of the evening. Which means YOUR vote won't be cast OR counted, and YOUR voice won't be heard.

I read enough about drawbacks and complications and other problem with the caucus system two years ago to decide that caucuses did not serve the voters. I'm thoroughly against them.