US Election: Are Caucuses Outdated?

by Naomi Smith

The 2020 Iowa Democratic party caucus has dominated global media over the past week. Caucuses are used in the US Presidential party nominee selection. With the Presidential election coming up later this year the US primary season has begun with the public selecting who the Democrat challenger to the incumbent Donald Trump will be. 

The popularity of caucuses has declined rapidly, with many states now opting for the arguably more effective primary vote where a simple public vote is held and voters select the candidate they wish to win the overall party nomination. In 2020 for the Democrat selection just four states are holding caucuses: Nevada, North Dakota, Wyoming and Iowa. 

A caucus involves voters attending a meeting for usually one or two hours before openly voting for their favoured candidate often by a show of hands. In order to qualify a candidate must have 15% of the vote in that particular caucus (of which many take place across the state). Those who voted for candidates who did not qualify are then able to make a second choice. The room will be ordered in sections with voters standing in specific areas for each candidate, as candidates get eliminated for having the smallest voter group, voters are able to move to another section to vote for a candidate who still qualifies until one candidate remains. The system can take hours and is chaotic, with people shouting across the room trying to get voters to move to their candidate’s area.

Unlike caucuses where locations are limited, meaning voters will have to travel further, primary voters are able to simply turn up to a polling station and vote like in an election with the process taking minutes. Equally, in a primary votes are private with a secret ballot. As the process of voting is far quicker and easier in primaries than in caucuses inevitably voter turnout is far higher in the former. This is favourable as the eventual nominee can claim a greater mandate amongst the party supporters and the party gains a greater idea of their core voters favoured policies, essential information for the ultimate campaign for the Presidency. 

The Iowa Democratic Party caucus on the 3rd of February did not help the argument defending caucuses, favoured by many as a traditional and exciting political event. Results were extremely delayed due to "inconsistencies in the reporting of three sets of results,” and problems with a new tech system being introduced. It wasn’t until the 6th, three days after the vote when a complete official count of the first alignment popular vote, the second alignment popular vote, and state delegate equivalents were released. However, many including NBC News reported inconsistencies in specific precincts in the results, with some state delegate equivalents being awarded to the wrong candidates. The 2020 Iowa Caucus was chaotic and inefficient, even with the DNC chair, Tom Perez saying that the situation in Iowa "should never happen again."

Overall, caucuses are complicated, time-consuming and yield low turnout amongst voters. However, many still cherish the democratic tradition and active participation of the exciting event. Though, in a purely practical sense at deciding on a party nominee, the caucus system is outdated and doesn’t work in today’s modern world, as has been observed by almost all the states.