NOTE: this is the third and final article in a series by Joyce Anderson that offers a first-hand account of last Monday evening’s Democratic presidential caucus in one Iowa precinct. The first two articles are available here and here. This third report picks up the narrative as 406 registered Democrats began to vote physically by moving to the place designated for supporters of each candidate.
By Joyce Anderson, for the Chippewa Valley Post
It was amazing! People moved noisily to the part of the room that had been marked as their candidate’s caucus area.
As like-minded people joined together under Elizabeth Warren’s “Courage over cynicism” sign or “Caucus for Pete Buttigieg here” sign, or Joe Biden’s “Unite the Nation Beat Trump Sign,” my husband Dave and I were free to walk around the room. We could easily see that the Buttigieg and Warren groups were large and that, surprisingly, Biden’s caucus was small and comprised mostly of people 60 and over.
We could hear Bernie Sanders’ group let out a whoop when they counted 62 people! We could see the surprise from Amy Klobuchar’s followers that they met the numbers criterion easily. We could also see the disappointment from the “Yang gang’s” smaller gathering. Tom Styer’s group of six looked downright forlorn.
There was also a place for those who chose not to commit to stand or sit. There was only one person there.
After the first ballot
Each candidate’s group had a captain who was charged with head counting to make sure that candidate met the number needed to be viable. The first-round ballots were then collected and turned over to the chair, who posted the results on a screen for everyone to see. Candidates who met the numbers threshold in that first round were Buttigieg, Sanders, Warren and Klobuchar.
Next, the chair announced that those whose candidate group did not have the required 61 people in it were to write down their second choice on the back of their ballot and move to the space of that second choice. You could hear cheers of welcome and applause as the “second preference” voters joined viable groups.
The second round ballots were collected and reported to the chair. All ballots were recounted to make sure that all 406 distributed ballots were accounted for. The final results were posted via an overhead projector and photos of the results were taken by a lot of people in the room.
Those final results were: Sanders, 4 delegates to the county convention; Warren, 5 delegates; Buttigieg, 6 delegates; and Klobuchar, 7 delegates. There would be no uncommitted delegates or delegates for Biden, Yang, Steyer, or any other Democratic candidate from this 2nd precinct in Winneshiek County, Iowa.
Some observations
Iowa’s Democratic Party caucus approach has taken a hit. Questions and concerns about the accuracy of counted votes and the legitimacy of the 2020 Iowa Caucus are swirling.
But the flaws weren’t in the room where we were.
What we observed was a process that took time and planning, and at times seemed complicated and cumbersome. But It left us feeling grateful to see and hear the excitement in the room, as we witnessed neighbors talking face to face with neighbors about candidates and policies. It was a snapshot of local people doing the work of democracy.
The flaw was in the statewide arrangements for reporting. It’s too bad the whole idea of “caucus” and the process of reporting are being colored with the same negative brush.
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Joyce Anderson, an Iowa native, is an Eau Claire-based educator, activist and writer. She was a member of the CVPost’s board of directors when its website was launched in February, 2015. Her CVPost report on the 2016 Iowa caucuses can be found here.
Anderson took the home page photo as the caucus crowd began moving toward the spaces designated for each candidate’s supporters.