Kill the Caucus

I’m pissed. Not because a certain candidate won in Nevada or because I live in Washington DC and must be angry at any political class disruption (in fact I quite enjoy that), but because Americans are being systematically screwed by the caucus process.

In 2008 my mind was blown in Iowa watching paper ballots being passed around in a gymnasium full of conservatives to check a box and return for counting. I kept thinking to myself this is 2008, there has to be a better way.

Fast forward eight years later and I find myself following the Iowa and Nevada caucuses with the same frustrations from two presidential election cycles ago. A caucus is an arcane process that limits civic participation by setting a specific timeframe and time commitment in which voters must comply to have a vote counted. It’s not only inefficient, but it’s unfair.

Michael McDonald at the Elect Project said it best.

After tonight’s fiasco in Nevada, I hope both Republicans and Democrats take a close look at the nomination process and encourage primaries in place of caucuses.

Kill the caucus.