IrishOne
Mayor
First of all, I love the Iowa caucus system (for the most part). I have been involved in the caucuses for 40 years. I only attend the Democratic caucus, although you can register as a Republican (or other party) on the night of the caucus to attend, if you would like. All caucusing is precinct specific, though, so you cannot jump around outside of your own precinct.
The Republican caucus is a little bit different than the Democratic one. This is an off-year for Dems because Obama is our party leader, and no one is running against Obama. So the Dems caucus will just be a re-grouping of basically Obama supporters, and some people who want to add planks to the Dems platform.
This is a big year for the Republicans, though, because of course they want to prevent Obama from being re-elected.
On caucus night, you must check in at your precinct poll, or in some cases with smaller groups, you can designate the meeting place at someone's home. Everything must be documented. They check your name and address off on the voter rolls and verify with a photo id.
There is a Precinct Captain, who is voted on by his neighbors in his precinct (previously), and he/she is in charge of the caucus. He runs the rules of order for the caucus. Each individual candidate that is running will also have their own particular precinct captain that will present their candidate's arguments and positions.
For the Republican caucus, the individual precinct captains will each present a speech designed to win over their neighbors, and has a specified time length, like 5 minutes. At the end of the individual's speeches, there is a short discussion period before the blank slips of paper are handed out. The the Republicans write down the name of the candidate they are supporting, and it is collected in a basket or hat or whatever.
Then the Precinct Captain sorts all the slips for the different candidates, and counts them. Depending on the number of people who are actually attending the caucus, divided by the majority of the cadidate or candidates that have the highest numbers, they determine whose groups are still viable and which groups must disband and regroup with another candidates group.This process continues until the precinct arrives at their viability number, and how many delegates they can send to the national convention.
For my precinct, we are allowed 3 delegates. It is determined by size how many delegates a precinct receives, and 3 is about average in Des Moines. There are approximately 500 people in my precinct, but only about 1/4 to 1/3 participate in the caucuses. But they are the hardcore political junkies that attend the caucus.
You can split the delegates by majorities. For example, last time in my precinct, we had 2 delegates for Obama and 1 delegate for Clinton=3 delegates total.
Then after the voting, the Precinct Captain must finish the caucus order of business, which may include voting on a new Precinct Captain if he/she no longer wishes to do the job. Also, if anyone wishes to add planks to their platform, it must be submitted in written form and the Precinct Captain will submit it to the national convention.
There can be visitors and observers, but by law they are not supposed to participate in the caucusing. I have seen this law not being followed, especially by out-of-state visitors.
IrishOne
The Republican caucus is a little bit different than the Democratic one. This is an off-year for Dems because Obama is our party leader, and no one is running against Obama. So the Dems caucus will just be a re-grouping of basically Obama supporters, and some people who want to add planks to the Dems platform.
This is a big year for the Republicans, though, because of course they want to prevent Obama from being re-elected.
On caucus night, you must check in at your precinct poll, or in some cases with smaller groups, you can designate the meeting place at someone's home. Everything must be documented. They check your name and address off on the voter rolls and verify with a photo id.
There is a Precinct Captain, who is voted on by his neighbors in his precinct (previously), and he/she is in charge of the caucus. He runs the rules of order for the caucus. Each individual candidate that is running will also have their own particular precinct captain that will present their candidate's arguments and positions.
For the Republican caucus, the individual precinct captains will each present a speech designed to win over their neighbors, and has a specified time length, like 5 minutes. At the end of the individual's speeches, there is a short discussion period before the blank slips of paper are handed out. The the Republicans write down the name of the candidate they are supporting, and it is collected in a basket or hat or whatever.
Then the Precinct Captain sorts all the slips for the different candidates, and counts them. Depending on the number of people who are actually attending the caucus, divided by the majority of the cadidate or candidates that have the highest numbers, they determine whose groups are still viable and which groups must disband and regroup with another candidates group.This process continues until the precinct arrives at their viability number, and how many delegates they can send to the national convention.
For my precinct, we are allowed 3 delegates. It is determined by size how many delegates a precinct receives, and 3 is about average in Des Moines. There are approximately 500 people in my precinct, but only about 1/4 to 1/3 participate in the caucuses. But they are the hardcore political junkies that attend the caucus.
You can split the delegates by majorities. For example, last time in my precinct, we had 2 delegates for Obama and 1 delegate for Clinton=3 delegates total.
Then after the voting, the Precinct Captain must finish the caucus order of business, which may include voting on a new Precinct Captain if he/she no longer wishes to do the job. Also, if anyone wishes to add planks to their platform, it must be submitted in written form and the Precinct Captain will submit it to the national convention.
There can be visitors and observers, but by law they are not supposed to participate in the caucusing. I have seen this law not being followed, especially by out-of-state visitors.
IrishOne
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