By Joyce Anderson, for the Chippewa Valley Post
It’s Wednesday morning and news reports of the Monday night Iowa caucuses are still incomplete.
My Twitter feed is leading with “#Iowa Caucus 2020,” followed by “#Iowa Caucus Disaster.” But that’s not what it felt like on Monday night, when my husband Dave and I sat in as welcomed caucus observers at one precinct in Iowa’s Winneshiek County.
We had decided we wanted to get a “close up,” first-hand perspective of a caucus and how it functions. So, we drove from Eau Claire to Decorah in time for Iowa’s first-in-the-nation balloting that takes place every four years on the first Monday in February.
It’s a tradition that dates back to Iowa’s entry into the Union in 1846 (except for 1916, when the state held what the online Encyclopedia Britannica called “one ill-fated presidential primary”).
Rather than having a secret ballot, Iowans gather with others from their political party, discuss the presidential candidates and physically move to a specific place in the room to join others who prefer the same candidate. They vote with their bodies and with paper ballots.
(More detailed information about the caucus rules can be found here)
Caucus was ‘impressive’
We found it impressive. More than 400 people in one precinct in Winneshiek county turned out on a cold Monday night for three hours of caucusing.
The people we spoke with were knowledgeable about their own candidate and others. They spoke with clarity and conviction. They were passionate about a fair and open democratic process. They were kind and civil to one another.
We left with the feeling that people at this caucus had a sense of participating for the good of our fragile democracy that relies on “we the people.”
Iowa background
I grew up in Iowa in a family that, like many Iowa families, paid attention to politics. And like many Iowa kids, I moved away.
But this year seemed like a turning point in our nation, and I wanted to observe a caucus. I wanted to see what it looked and felt like to gather and talk openly and publicly with your neighbor about your favorite political candidate, to persuade and be persuaded and to help your state decide which candidate would get the most Iowa delegates at the Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee.
We’re glad we went!
How we found it
The advance research was easy. The Winneshiek County Democratic Party’s Facebook page listed a phone number to call.
Matt Tapscott answered. He laughed and told me he was surprised that his number was still on Facebook since he was the former president of the local Democratic party but was now a candidate for the Iowa state Senate.
He said he was glad to hear about our interest and said to come on down to the Danan Lansing building at the Decorah fairgrounds. He said they were expecting about 400 people and it looked as if it would be an interesting night.
He told us to get there early, about 6 p.m. because business started promptly. Folks needed to get there and sign in by 7.
It was good advice. By 7 the chairs were filled and there were lines of people standing along the wall.
NOTE: The second part of this report, on how 406 Democratic caucus voters in one Iowa precinct made their decisions, will be posted on Friday (Feb. 7).
Joyce Anderson, an Iowa native, has called Eau Claire “home” for more than 30 years. She was a member of the CVPost’s board of directors when its website was launched in February, 2015. She also reported on the 2016 Iowa caucuses for the CVPost.
Home page photo by Joyce Anderson