Iowa Caucuses: Unusual Things Associated with the Democratic Race
This Monday, in the evening, at least ten thousand democrats belonging to Iowa are going to brave the cold and get ready to gather in the churches, schools, libraries, and gyms, so that they can decide on the presidential candidates, who are their favourite. It is undoubtedly going to be the very first step for a democratic nation. However, it is not going to be any traditional vote. Few of the elections in the US involve the filing of ballot papers privately. However, in the case of Iowa caucuses, Democrats are going to gather within the noisy rooms, stand in several zones for making others understand about the candidates that they are going to support. Also, they keep convincing others so that they can switch sides.
Given below is a list of the unusual things that are associated.
Similar to the musical chair and involves shouting along with baked goods
The Iowa Democratic caucuses are extremely colourful, and also complicated. As soon as the representatives of campaigns make the final pitches, it is the responsibility of everyone to gather with others, who are supporting a similar candidate. In this process, everyone will have to stand up and look for other people belonging to the group, as stated by Karen Kedrowski, who is a professor of political science at Iowa State University. As soon as the movement stops, the room is frozen, and then folks are counted in the sub-caucus. Candidates that are less in comparison to 15% of the people present in the room will be considered unviable. In this situation, the supporters have to shift to the zone of other candidates.
Not an election
The race gets a lot of coverage, primarily because it will come first, but you have to understand that it is not an election. The meaning of caucus is “meeting the neighbours”, and normally, they will be run as internal meetings of the party. This is why the entire process is handled by the volunteers of respective parties as opposed to election officials. Orchestrating the process is challenging because it is highly complicated!
Despite being first, Iowa started accidentally
According to Dennis Goldford, Iowa is not first because it is significant, it is significant because it is the first. Democratic caucuses ended within the calendar party partly as a reason for understaffing and an extremely slow machine of the mimeograph.
Even when you are committed, you are going to be stuck
When voters do not have committed candidates, they have the option of being “uncommitted”. This used to be one of the most popular choices in 1972. In the year 1976, the option of being “uncommitted” won maximum delegates in Iowa. This year, the new rules mean that voters will be locked in the very first round, only if the preferred options pass the threshold of 15%. This means that if voters are not sure who they are going to vote, they will be stuck. However, according to the experts, this will not happen now. Fewer people opt to become “uncommitted” because caucuses have started gaining attention now.