Don your party colors, read up on the latest presidential campaign news, and mark your calendar for February 1—the Iowa Caucus is coming up. Candidates for the 2016 Presidential election and their staffs have been campaigning across Iowa’s 99 counties, and it’s time for the public to decide who they’re going to support.
The Iowa Caucus has been a tradition in the state since its inauguration into the country in 1846 (although there was one experimental year where no caucus was held). 12 other states use the caucus system instead of the primaries system, but the Iowa Caucus is the first to happen each election year.
In the 2012 caucus, over 100,000 Iowans participated across the state, caucusing for their favorite candidate, although many are predicting that the number caucusing this year will be closer to the 2008 total of about 360,000.
A caucus is where the residents of a state meet to discuss who should be elected from both parties to move onto the next step of the election, as well as who should represent a political party at the county conventions. Primaries are the norm around the country at this point of campaigning, where citizens vote on who they want to represent their political party for the election.
It’s a well-known fact that while there are many eligible voters in the U.S., less than half of them actually do vote. However, with the caucuses, there is no voting system, as it is held by the public rather than the state.
Iowans can caucus in one of the 1,682 precincts that lie within the state’s counties, and meetings are usually held in churches, schools, libraries and other public buildings. In rural areas of the state, meetings may be held in homes, barns or sheds. Party chairs from each county are in charge of organizing where and when the caucus is called.
Anybody can caucus as long as they are a legal adult by the date of the general election, live in the precinct they plan to caucus in and have registered as a Democrat or Republican.
Caucusing for both parties follows similar procedures.
After a call to order, both Democrats and Republicans have the chance to discuss the different candidates. Following this, votes are cast to determine who is voted for at each caucusing event.
Democrats physically move to different parts of the room to show who they support, and a candidate has to have at least 15 percent of the votes to be able to move forward. Those who are caucusing for candidates who have less votes have the option to change who they support. The percentage of votes from each precinct factor into the percentage of each precinct’s delegates to be represented at the county convention.
Eligible Republican voters at each caucusing event are given ballots where they write the name of the candidate they are supporting. After all the votes from each precinct are counted and announced, the numbers are reported to the Republican Party of Iowa.
The New Hampshire primaries will follow the Iowa Caucus as the 2016 presidential election continues.
Photos from the Des Moines Register and Wikipedia.