What is an Iowa Caucus anyway?
Recently, I had the privilege to explain the Iowa Caucus to High School seniors. I didn’t realize how confusing the Iowa Caucus can be until I tried to explain it out loud. Seriously, all this talk about delegates, precincts, and voting can get confusing. So I tried to break it down in a simple format:
What is the Iowa Caucus? The Iowa Caucus is the first contest in determining a presidential nominee for each political party. In order for a candidate to win their party’s nominee, they must win a certain amount of delegates. Delegates then go on to the county, state, and eventually national level to help determine who the party nominee will be. For the Republicans, there are approximately 2,380 delegates. In order to win the nomination, a candidate must win the simple majority of delegates, so exactly one more than half. For the Democrats, there are roughly 4,482 delegates. They also must win the simple majority, but each state gets a proportional member of delegates. Party nominees are selected at the party’s national convention, the Republican National Convention will be held in Cleveland, Ohio at the Quicken Loans Arena July 18–21, 2016 and the Democratic Convention will be held at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia July 25th-28th, 2016.
How do you caucus? Democrats and Republicans hold their caucuses differently, but they both hold caucuses at each precinct in the state. Before caucusing, you do not have to be a registered Republican or Democrat, you can register at the precinct site. You have to be 18 years old by the time the General Election rolls around in November, so you can be 17 years old at the time of the caucus. You have to be an Iowa resident.
Democrats: Democrats use a more social way of voting. Representatives for each candidate will be at the precinct site. O’Malley, Sanders, and Clinton will each have representatives and will ask voters to choose their candidate. The representatives will be in different areas of the room, and voters move to the side of the room with the candidate that they support. In order for a candidate to retain delegates, they must have 15 percent of the vote to stay viable, or in the race. So, if Hillary Clinton wins 50 percent of the vote in Iowa, and Bernie Sanders wins 50 percent of the vote, 50 percent of Iowa’s delegates will be Hillary’s, 50 percent Bernie’s, and 0 to O’Malley’s. If a candidate is not viable, then they must decide to caucus for another candidate. There is also the choice to caucus “undecided”.
Republicans: A Republican caucus uses ballots for voting and uses majority rules for who wins delegates. Each potential candidate will have a representative to stump for their candidate, and at the end of the night, each person will vote for who they think should be the nominee. Delegates then go on to the county convention, state convention, and eventually the national convention to pledge allegiance to their candidates.
Where would I caucus? The caucuses are usually held in a school, church, or library. This year, the caucus is held on February 1st. On your voter registration card, you should have a precinct number based on the location of your current residence. This will determine where you caucus.
If you are a Democrat visit this link and submit your address to determine your caucus location: http://iowademocrats.org/caucus/
If you are a Republican visit this link and submit your address to determine your caucus location: https://www.iowagop.org/2015/12/03/iowa-gop-precinct-locations/
Why does the Iowa Caucus matter? The Iowa Caucus matters because candidates can gain ground in Iowa and propel their potential candidacy to a national stage. If a candidate exceeds expectations in Iowa, they gain national headlines, media coverage, and momentum. After Iowa, candidates go on to other states: New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Nevada and continue throughout the nation. Iowa only contributes about 1–2 percent of the national delegates, but Iowa matters because it is the first contest where candidates go head to head and voters are able to share their opinions.
Additional Information: This is a very simplified explanation of the Iowa Caucus. Caucuses occur every 2 years, and are a way for both parties to establish their party platform and party leaders. Not every state uses caucuses to determine their delegates either, other states use primaries, such as New Hampshire.
