The Iowa Caucus
This, my friends, is a very valid question. Many people, Democratic and Republican, seem to be confused about the Iowa Caucus. Some questions that often arise are: “What is a ‘caucus’?”, “Why is it such a big deal for more Democrats than Republicans?”, “Did Hillary really win 6 coin tosses in a row?”, “Why do they do coin tosses?”, “Why is the Iowa Caucus important?”. Here, I will, to the best of my ability, boil down the caucus and answer the questions you have been waiting for.
1. “What is a caucus?”
A caucus is really similar to a primary election, except it has a few more adjustments. First of all, a caucus is organized by the state party official while the primaries are run by the state government. For a caucus, there is a very specific time, place, and time commitment each voter must adhere to, whereas there is a day designated for the primary election and you may come and go as you please. Caucuses are typically bigger deals for Democratic parties because of their method of selection. If they are late, or cannot stay for the (up to several hours) of the full caucus, they are not eligible to participate. It’s also important to note that each state has either a caucus or a primary.
2. “Why is it such a big deal for more Democrats than Republicans?”
For Republicans, the caucus works very simply. You go to hear a few speeches from your party leaders, then you go into a private voting booth and cast your vote which is then counted up at the end of the night. That’s it for the Republican party. The Democratic party, on the other hand, first counts how many people are in the room. After this, everyone gathers into a large assembly and tries to convince one another why their candidate is the better of the three. Once a certain amount of time passes, the room is divided into four parts. One section for each candidate, and one section for the undecided. All of the people in each section are then counted off and the candidate that has less than 15% of voters in their section is cast off the ballot (i.e. Martin O’Malley). Once the two candidates are left standing, it is their supporters’ job to convince people by practically yelling why their candidate is better.
3. “Did Hillary really win 6 coin tosses in a row?”
According to NPR, Hillary Clinton did not win 6 coin tosses in a row. In fact, according to a source that was at the precinct in Iowa where the coin toss was held, there was at least a dozen coin tosses in which Hillary won the majority and Senator Bernie Sanders won a handful.
4. “Wait — there was a coin toss? Why?”
A coin toss is a very archaic way to decide who gets the final delegate. Since the 2016 Iowa Caucus for Democratic Elections was the closest it’s ever been in the history of the United States, (Final total: Hillary with 23 delegates and Bernie with 21 delegates). However, when they did the grouping of delegates, there seemed to be one delegate that was still unsure where to go, and with a 50/50 tie between Bernie and Hillary, the party leaders decided to do a coin toss to determine where the last delegate will go. Though a virtual tie, this year’s Iowa Caucus winning presidential candidate (again only by .3%) is Hillary. However, this proves that Hillary can be beaten, for all of the Bernie supporters out there – no need to lose hope yet.
5. “Finally, some clarity in the fog that is the Iowa Caucus, but I still don’t understand why there’s such a big hoopla over the whole thing?”
There’s a big myth that the presidential candidate who wins the Iowa Caucus generally wins the presidency. This is incorrect. Although it would make sense for that to be the reason why it’s such a big deal, it’s not the reality. In reality, since 1972, seven out of nine candidates who win the Iowa Caucus go on to the general election, whereas only two of these seven candidates actually ended up winning the presidency. As you can see, two out of nine doesn’t seem like the greatest odds. However, the Caucus is the first event in election voting season, and the candidates who participate get a lot of press, and if you win, it’s seen as an omen for good things to come.