What's a caucus, anyways?

Today marks the first vote of the 2016 presidential campaign. Yeah, I’ve been writing about it for a few months, and the candidates have been arguing even longer, but the first step to the White House will be made today.

But people in Iowa don’t vote; rather, they caucus. Here in Massachusetts, and in 33 other states, we vote in primaries. You know, like with the filling in ovals and going to your old elementary school. In 16 states, typically the more rural ones like Idaho and Alaska, voters caucus. It’s a totally different (and kind of cool) system. Caucuses are a remnant of an older America, when debate and discussion drove elections. Instead of just voting, there’s an extra layer of civic participation.

Tonight at 7 p.m., Iowa voters will head to their local voting stations, one of more than 1,000. What happens after that depends on the party. For the Republicans, the voters hear speeches from representatives of each candidate. After that, they vote. Sounds kind of fun, depending on who is speaking. Regardless, the precinct then proportionally divides its delegates to the county convention. The overall distribution of delegates usually remains proportional at that convention to caucus results.

What’s a delegate? Long story short, America is a representative democracy. So when you vote for Bernie Sanders or Ted Cruz, you aren’t voting for them as much as you are for a delegate that will vote for them at a larger convention. It’s sort of like the Electoral College. I guess that’ll be another column (the semester is long.)

Democrats do things differently. Each precinct is assigned a certain number of delegates to send to the county convention. When caucus-goers arrive, they divide themselves by candidate. Once doors close, there’s a free-for-all in which every candidate’s delegation tries to convince others/undecided voters to side with them. After 30 minutes of this, a head count is taken. Candidates who do not meet a certain percentage of votes, which is dependent on the size of the precinct, but 15 percent for larger ones, are deemed “unviable.” For the next 30 minutes, these candidates’ voters have a choice to make: abstain, pick somebody viable or attract more voters. Now, there’s an even bigger free-for-all for voters. After these 30 minutes, a final headcount is taken, and the delegates are proportionally divided.

This system is unique in that a voter’s second-preferred candidate matters. Let’s use a hypothetical. If candidate x leads with 30 percent of the vote in the first round but is universally hated by everybody else, he or she will end up potentially getting less delegates than other candidates. No longer will voters have to think game theoretically. It also prioritizes what’s called “ground game”--a candidate’s ability to attract volunteers willing to put in work for the campaign. Plus, it sounds kind of fun.

Just ask Barack Obama how important the Iowa caucuses are. His unexpected victory in Iowa in 2008 was the first step in a massive upset over Hillary Clinton. If Bernie Sanders wants to be the Democratic nominee, he needs to start with a showing reminiscent of President Obama’s. It is by no means a be-all-end-all (ask Mike Huckabee), rather a good bellwether, as Iowa contains voters from every part of the political spectrum.