Linkmeister

Caucus v. Primary

Why a caucus rather than a primary?

Iowa has held caucuses every two years since the early 19th century, before it was even a state. Iowa leaders chose to hold caucuses instead of primaries because of the active, grass-roots participation the caucus system embodies, said Peverill Squire, professor of political science at the University of Iowa. (My emphasis)

Iowa briefly considered switching to a primary and actually held one in 1913 before returning to the caucuses in 1916.

So are they universally loved?

Jim Hutter, associate professor of political science, said an advantage to having the first caucus in Iowa is that voters generally know more about the candidates.

"A caucus takes longer but it allows various neighbors to interact, discussing and debating the benefits of candidates," he said.

[snip]

Dick Haws, associate professor of journalism and communication, does not like the Iowa caucuses. Haws wrote about his aversion to the Iowa caucuses in a recent commentary for the Chicago Tribune.

"I wish Iowa would have a primary, because it would be more user-friendly and more people would turn out," he said.

Haws said keeping the discussions available at a caucus would be beneficial for voters.

However, making voting private and having the caucus site open for an extended period of time to let people vote when they want to would probably elicit more interest from a wider pool of voters, instead of making all votes public and forcing everyone to vote at the same time in the tradition of the caucuses.

"We think it's more democratic if we have more turnout, but the rules of the Iowa caucuses restrict turnout," he said.

I guess what Professor Haws objects to is the limited time period (two hours or so on a Monday night) and the show-of-hands method of voting. If you're a registered voter you're eligible to show up and cast your vote.

Who can participate in the caucus?

Anyone who will be 18 years old by Nov. 2, 2004, the date of the presidential election. If you are eligible to vote for president, you're eligible to participate in a caucus. You must also be a registered Democrat to vote on the Democratic presidential race. Likewise, you must be a registered Republican to vote on the Republican presidential race. You can register or change your registration at the caucus site. An independent voter could show up, register and participate. Anyone may view the caucus.

Not enough available time? Open voting? Well, as to time, you'd have to switch to a primary system; how many people have a couple of hours available to discuss politics on a workday in January? As to open voting, you could do secret balloting with scraps of paper; Mead would be happy to sell each party a bunch of notebooks.

Posted by Linkmeister at January 18, 2004 10:11 AM