First Presidential Votes Cast in Iowa Today.

Tonight, thousands of Iowans will trudge into the chilly night to “caucus” in local schools, community halls, churches, restaurants and gyms etc to cast their vote and officially mark the launch of the 2016 presidential race. But what is a caucus and how does it work?

A caucus is a meeting of folks from a particular party to vote for a candidate, and Iowans have been using this election method since the early 1800’s. In a nutshell, it requires voters to arrive at a specific time and place to cast their vote.  Tonight, Iowa’s caucus starts at 7 pm, CST.

While both Republicans and Democrats vote by caucus, their voting methodologies are very different, with this one exception:  Iowans can register to vote TONIGHT.  Same day voter registration is unusual,  and it can have a significant impact on the outcome of the race.  For example, both Sanders and Trump need the influx of a lot of new registered voters to put their campaigns over the top. So, tonight, if there are a lot of long lines outside the precincts, that will be a good sign for the Trump and Sanders campaigns.

In the Republican caucus, voters are directed to arrive at a specified time and place;then, once everyone is through the doors, they cast their vote in secret. It is so informal that many precincts don’t even distribute ballots; instead, voters are often handed a scrap of paper and instructed to write the name of whom they wish to vote for. Being a good speller with good penmanship might be an important asset here!

Democrats have adopted a more complex approach to their caucus:

1. Each campaign designates a captain at each precinct; so tonight, there should be three captains at each precinct (Clinton, Sanders and O’Malley). When voters arrive they divide into voting groups based on their desired candidate. If folks are undecided, they go into a fourth “undecided” group.
2. The next step is to determine whether a candidate is viable. Viability is determined by garnering at least 15% of the caucus vote from each precinct.
3. If a candidate group is not viable, that is, they do not have the required 15% votes, each voter must find a new candidate group to join. As you  might guess, they are instantly the most popular folks in the room as others try to convince them to caucus for another candidate.
4. Once all the voters have re-aligned with viable candidates, their percentage is noted and tallied at the end of the evening with all other precincts.

One of the most vexing aspects of the Democratic caucus is that the votes are not secret, resulting in ample opportunity for coercion. Moreover, since voting in both parties requires that Iowans be present at a specific time, date and place in order to vote, many people find it too difficult to caucus; some have night jobs, some are caring for children, while others struggle with transportation.

And, what about independent Iowa voters?  They can’t vote unless they commit to one of the two major parties.

So in an age where many states are trying to simplify the voting process and encourage greater voter turn-out, Iowa seems to be a bit out of step. The result is that in the past 50 years, an average of only 20% of all registered Iowan voters actually caucus.

History shows that Iowa rarely decides an election.  But in an election as tumultuous and unpredictable as the 2016 Primary, a small group of Iowans tonight might shoulder quite a bit of sway in the fate of the candidates.  And maybe in the future direction of our country.