How do you vote in a caucus? (vanity)

I'm not sure about Iowa, but the Minnesota caucus works like this:

You show up at school where you are divided up into groups around the size of neighborhoods. Once assembled, a certain number of delegates and alternates must be selected. In my case, there were few enough people that everyone who wanted to be a delegate got to be one. I decided to be a delegate for Alan Keyes. We were also allowed to advance issues to be included as the Republican platform. You present the issue, then you must get a majority of votes for it to be sent on to the next level. Finally, we voted on candidates, and these were the numbers that end up being the numbers reported as the results for the caucus.

If Minnesota had a primary, not only would you have no say in the state Republican platform, but the process would already be over and everything handed over to the party apparatchiks. Instead, this caucus is repeated a few months later at the district level, where you and your issues have to get enough votes to continue on. The final meeting is the state level, where if you win, you issues become planks in the platform, and your candidate gets all of the state's electoral votes. Anyone who has taken part in a caucus can clearly see how it a completely grassroots process as opposed to the primary system which gives the parties all the power.

Yours is the best description so far.

I admit it.... I am an Iowan.

The caucus process is really interesting and actually rather fun to participate in... as long as you enjoy politics!!

Delegates from each precinct attend the state convention. National delagates are selected at the state convention. Besides voting for candidates, the caucus is also where voters can submit and select what they want included in their party planks. This is the really boring part. The party plank discussion is supposed to come before voting on candidates, but our precinct always defers it to later.

Aside from the other advise you have been given, I can give you additional information that may or may not be helpful, since I am from a different state than you are.

When you show up to vote on the day of the primary, the election workers should be able to tell you were the caucus will be held that evening. You must show up on time, and you need to bring proof that you voted, (your stamped voters registration -- showing which party you voted in). Most likely the caucus will be held at the voting site but not necessarily, so check.

Why should this be done in person? In Texas, this is were the resolutions are first proposed to develop the party platform. You can propose any resolution you like, and everyone in attendance will vote on it. If it passes, it then will be presented at the county convention, then on to the state, and on to the National Convention. This will possibly be your only opportunity to propose a resolution, support it, or vote it down.

There is also the possibility that the caucus will elect you to be one of their representatives to attend the county convention, and from there you could advance further to being a delegate at the state or national level. National level delegates are usually the folks that have been working in the trenches for years, so don't count on this if you are a Newbie.

One year I was a Precinct Chairman (not a big deal because nobody ran against me), and went as far as being a delegate to the state convention. (During a mid-term election year). It was very interesting and gives a lot of insight into the way that your county and state party functions, who the players are, and just what kind of conservative they are. I would highly recommend it if you get the opportunity.

One other point I forgot to mention, that may or may not be the same in Iowa:

Suppose you have two Presidential candidates, A and B. Twenty people show up at the caucus, and 11 of these support candidate A and the other 9 support candidate B. They are allowed to elect 5 delegates and 5 alternates to advance to the county convention. Since the supporters of candidate A are in the majority, ALL of the delegates and alternates for the county convention will then be supporters of candidate A.

This is very important, as you can see that even though candidate B pulled in 45% of the support in the caucus, they will NOT have 45% of the precinct's delegates at the county level -- they will have zero. And, eventually it is the delegates in the national convention that determine who the party's nominee is.

So even if you do not propose any resolutions or get elected to advance as a delegate to the county convention, you will help determine how the delegation is stacked at the next level and be able to vote for or against resolutions. Your presence does have an impact.

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