Oh Iowa, you failed again. I think it is time to reconsider your role in the selection of the leader of the free world. Look, I know, you want to have a voice. You are a small state with a chip on your shoulder and Presidential elections are a cottage industry for you but come on. How many times to you have to screw it up before it is enough. You should be embarrassed. I mean I know you declared three different winners over the course of a couple weeks in 2012 Republican contest, but frankly after the first declaration very few people cared. Last night you created the weirdest of scenarios that is perfect for the 21st century. Precinct captains who tallied up in public, on paper, results in their gyms and churches, had to send in results with an AP that didn't work. For some, they don't normally live in the digital world so it was difficult to troubleshoot. So here we sit, almost 24 hours later with no clear results, and a host of conspiracy theories that are now driving the discussion. What the actual? Your system stinks because running around the gyms like a bar sponsored speed dating event to get the right number of people to support your candidate may not be the best way to do it. Also it leads such ideological gear-stripping as an Amy Klobuchar voter saying their second choice is Bernie. That is like going from a fancy cocktail as your first choice but if you don't have it I will take Bud Light. It stings I tell you to know they have the power to choose who my party will nominate and because of geography I never will.
But the caucuses are more inherently unrepresentative of the party and the country as well. Iowa is 93% white, and the huge pockets of rural precincts have more voting power than the urban areas. Caucuses require an large investment of free time in the evenings so it favors the retired crowd and college students. In fact if you are a snowbird (someone who is a resident of one state but spend the winters in a southern state) you could have voted in the caucus in your own state during the day. People who winter in Arizona and Florida (read retirees with money) were given access to the process. Left out are people who can't afford to take off from work to spend upwards of 4 hours in the caucus, people with disabilities who can't sit on gym floors for that time, public safety and hospital employees, hourly workers in factories and retail spaces open during caucus time and anyone who cares for someone else (a child, a parent, a spouse etc.) who couldn't get respite to go for that long. The caucuses have always been a problem and while they won by the eventual nominee about 1/2 the time they do sometimes eliminate candidates who might be more viable in states with a more diverse and fair process.
It is time for the Iowa caucuses to go away. They don't work. They favor candidates that don't have other obligations (like sitting Senators). The vote tends to not match the party as a whole. They can't seem to count the tallies well nor fast. And finally, it hurts many of the people who are at the heart of the party.
I never liked the primary process as a whole. But caucuses seem to be the worst way to choose a candidate. I propose a series of regional primaries. Use the Bureau of Economic Analysis Regions or some other linked form.
New England: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont
Mideast: Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania
Great Lakes: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin
Plains: Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota
Southeast: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia
Southwest: Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas
Rocky Mountain: Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Utah, and Wyoming
Far West: Alaska, California, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington
Eight primary days, starting February every two weeks.
Start with the Plains if you want those voters to have a say for fear of more densely populated regions. Then do New England, Southeast, etc. until there is a nominee or we go to convention. All primary elections, all should have early voting or some accessibility to voting outside of the one day affair. One set of rules for the party across all regions. It can work if we want it to.
Iowa, time to bury your quaint and ridiculous approach to the elections, so let's blow the whole thing up (figuratively) and make the system actually work. That is always an option.
But the caucuses are more inherently unrepresentative of the party and the country as well. Iowa is 93% white, and the huge pockets of rural precincts have more voting power than the urban areas. Caucuses require an large investment of free time in the evenings so it favors the retired crowd and college students. In fact if you are a snowbird (someone who is a resident of one state but spend the winters in a southern state) you could have voted in the caucus in your own state during the day. People who winter in Arizona and Florida (read retirees with money) were given access to the process. Left out are people who can't afford to take off from work to spend upwards of 4 hours in the caucus, people with disabilities who can't sit on gym floors for that time, public safety and hospital employees, hourly workers in factories and retail spaces open during caucus time and anyone who cares for someone else (a child, a parent, a spouse etc.) who couldn't get respite to go for that long. The caucuses have always been a problem and while they won by the eventual nominee about 1/2 the time they do sometimes eliminate candidates who might be more viable in states with a more diverse and fair process.
It is time for the Iowa caucuses to go away. They don't work. They favor candidates that don't have other obligations (like sitting Senators). The vote tends to not match the party as a whole. They can't seem to count the tallies well nor fast. And finally, it hurts many of the people who are at the heart of the party.
I never liked the primary process as a whole. But caucuses seem to be the worst way to choose a candidate. I propose a series of regional primaries. Use the Bureau of Economic Analysis Regions or some other linked form.
New England: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont
Mideast: Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania
Great Lakes: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin
Plains: Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota
Southeast: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia
Southwest: Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas
Rocky Mountain: Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Utah, and Wyoming
Far West: Alaska, California, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington
Eight primary days, starting February every two weeks.
Start with the Plains if you want those voters to have a say for fear of more densely populated regions. Then do New England, Southeast, etc. until there is a nominee or we go to convention. All primary elections, all should have early voting or some accessibility to voting outside of the one day affair. One set of rules for the party across all regions. It can work if we want it to.
Iowa, time to bury your quaint and ridiculous approach to the elections, so let's blow the whole thing up (figuratively) and make the system actually work. That is always an option.
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