What the hell is a caucus? We sort out how the Iowa system works
All told, the state expects turnout to exceed the record 240,000 Iowans who caucused in the 2008 Democratic primary.At each caucus site — which include churches, gyms, and more — voters will physically gather in a designated area of the venue that corresponds to their preferred candidate.and so on. That’s the first round. A candidate must register 15-percent support from the voters in attendance to advance to the second round.
A formula will be applied to these results to determine the number of delegates to be allocated at each caucus site.What changes did the Democratic Party institute for 2020? To make things even more confusing, the Republicans’ caucus process is entirely different from that of the Democrats. Fortunately we can save the Republican explainer for 2024 and focus on the Democrats, who have switched things up a little bit this year.The “first expression of preference,” or the raw results of the first round, before realignment.The “state delegate equivalents” , the number of assigned delegates based on the the final expression of preference.
Another notable that could actually impact the results is that only voters who support a candidate who fails to reach the 15-percent threshold may realign with another candidate after the first round. In the past, a voter could hop over to another candidate regardless of how well the candidate they supported initially performed. No longer.
For example, if Sanders, Biden, and Elizabeth Warren received 25, 25, and 15 percent support, respectively, some voters who supported Warren may have deem it in their interests to hop over to Sanders after the first round, in an effort to prevent Biden from winning. In the past, they would have been able to do this. This year, their support for Warren will have been locked in after the first round, since she crossed the 15-percent threshold.It depends how close it is.
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