January 30, 2016•Update: January 31, 2016
By Michael Hernandez
WASHINGTON
In two days, Iowa will decide which Republican and Democrat candidates will be the first to win a statewide election in America’s staggered presidential nomination cycle.
But voters will not take to a traditional voting booth as they would in a primary or other major elections.
They will instead participate in caucuses across Iowa.
Rather than filling out ballots in narrow curtained booths, caucus voters participate in a time-intensive process from the 1800’s where they flock to caucus sites at appointed times.
From there, it gets a little complicated.
For Republicans, the process is comparatively straightforward in Iowa.
The GOP’s meetings are discussions of the party’s candidates and platforms where participants vote by raising their hands in a general forum or using the conventional secret ballot.
Iowa Democrats, however, gather in groups at 1,100 sites based on who they support for the nomination.
They will then be counted. Backers of any candidate who fails to garner a certain percentage of the room can decide to join another group.
The percentage differs based on the total number of candidates and caucus attendees.
Caucus captains for nominees who meet the threshold lobby caucus goers to join their candidate’s assembly. Or, those who are in a group that does not meet viability standards can lobby other groups to sway partisans.
Once the dust settles, delegates are awarded based on the size of each group and the total number allocated to the precinct.
Whether Republican or Democrat, either process can take hours.
The antiquated system has been progressively phased out of the American presidential cycle, with the Democratic Party making significant strides in 1968 when it shifted many caucuses to primaries.
Iowa, however, has steadfastly retained the complicated process.
Aside from the Hawkeye State, as Iowa is known, only a handful of other states use the system.
“The few states that still do caucuses are kind of old-fashioned – they’re states that just never adopted the primary system,” said Jennifer Victor, political science professor at George Mason University.
In Iowa, residents tend to take their responsibility as voting in the first contest in the country “incredibly seriously”, according to Victor.
“If you live in Iowa you basically expect to shake the hand of everybody who is running for president, and it’s a reasonable expectation actually,” she said.
While each method has its advantages and disadvantages, the caucus system can be a grueling back and forth, particularly as it is carried out in Iowa.
Those voters who turn out to caucuses tend to be more heavily engaged in politics, according to Hans Noel, an associate professor of government at Georgetown University.
“It’s hard enough to find time to vote,” he said. “Taking what can be hours to vote at a specific time can really be a barrier.”
While Donald Trump may seem like a lock in for the Republican ticket, and as Hillary Clinton fights tooth and nail with Sen.
Bernie Sanders in early states, there is a long road ahead for the candidates – and no outcome is certain.
They will next compete in New Hampshire’s primaries on Feb. 9 before running a gauntlet of states to secure their nomination at party conventions – July 18-21 in Cleveland for Republicans and July 25-28 in Philadelphia for Democrats.
At that point, the process is essentially “fait accompli”, or predetermined, based on state competitions, Victor said.
