The Iowa Caucus: Why it’s Important and What Happens Now
By Zach Bearnson
As the 2020 presidential election draws closer, individual states will begin their primary elections to determine the Democratic Party Nominee. The Iowa caucuses are a series of public discussions that are used to determine a nominee rather than the more traditional voting process. Iowa is the first state to begin its nomination process.
The standard election process involves registered voters submitting a ballot with their preferred politician checked off. Rather than an individual casting a vote for their preferred politician, voters gather in groups to discuss and vote on potential candidates.
These groups discuss the platforms of each candidate, and after a short period of discussion, voters will move to different parts of the room designated for each potential candidate. The number of people in each candidate’s corner will be tallied and reported to Iowa’s Democratic Headquarters.
The Republican party also held caucuses this year with Donald Trump receiving 97 percent of the votes, with former governor of Massachusetts Bill Weld coming in second with 1.3 percent.
The results of the caucuses are a good indicator for the candidates and a predictor of success across the midwest. The caucus has in the past been an indicator of a candidate’s future success in the primary elections. In the last five presidential elections, the winner of Iowa’s democratic caucuses has received the nomination in the general election.
The event is not without its criticisms. The voting technique is not as concrete as physical ballots, and so the legitimacy of a caucus is often criticized. There has also been criticism about the lack of diversity in Iowa. The caucasian population represents a supermajority of Iowa. Advocates for political diversity often criticize this lack of representation.
This year’s caucus has also become a subject of controversy. Separate caucusing sites used a new app to record their counts, rather than relaying the information to the Democratic headquarters via phone. The app, developed by tech company Shadow Inc., crashed in the evening, leaving caucus leaders to relay the results of their respective caucuses over the phone.
The app failure and the number of phone calls into the Iowa Democratic headquarters delayed the final counts for the results. While the official results have been released, there has been much contention over their legitimacy. The crashing of the app and calls for recanvassing by multiple candidates add to these criticisms.
The official results show representative Bernie Sanders and former mayor Pete Buttigieg tied for the lead, each receiving 26 percent of the votes. Previous polling data showed Sanders leading, followed by former Vice President Joe Biden. Biden did not receive as much support as previous polling data had previously shown, coming in fourth with 15 percent behind Senator Elizabeth Warren with 18 percent.
Democratic candidates will continue to campaign across the country. New Hampshire hosted their primary election with Sanders taking 25 percent followed closely behind with 24 percent. Nevada will host their own caucuses on Feb. 22.
