Blog Post 1.3: "Preparing for the Iowa Caucus"
1. What was the Iowa Democratic Party's plan for changes to this year's Iowa Caucus?
The Iowa Democratic Party wanted to introduce a "virtual caucus" through a phone system alongside their traditional caucus.
2. Why has the Democratic National Committee decided to recommend rejecting these plans?
The DNC is reccommending to reject the plan because a tele-caucus system would be susceptible to hackers.
3. Why had the Iowa Democratic Party recommended these changes?
Iowa recommends these changes because the traditional caucus system is not accessible for everyone, it can take many hours, and people have to show up in person. The tele-caucus system is more accessible.
4. Why is it so important that Iowa is the first contest? How do they influence the nomination process?
First contests show which candidates have large support bases. And it also determines the candidates that do not have a chance at winning the Democratic nomination.
5. Why are caucuses controversial as a nomination process?
Caucuses are very complex. People have to separate out into groups based on the candidate they support. Therefore, the caucus process takes many hours, which means people who have other obligations cannot participate in the caucus.
6. What is the problem with more people participating in the caucus process in recent elections?
As the number of people participating at a caucus site increases, the caucus process becomes longer. Caucuses initially had 50-100 people, now there can be thousands at one site.
7. Why are many arguing that this new form of caucus could be manipulated?
The DNC hired a security firm to hack into the virtual caucus system, and the firm was successful, which fuels concerns that the new caucus system is manipulatable. However, many Iowa party officials said that the hacked system was different from the system Iowa was building.
8. What would be the problem with Iowa changing to a primary?
The Iowa Democratic Party wanted to introduce a "virtual caucus" through a phone system alongside their traditional caucus.
2. Why has the Democratic National Committee decided to recommend rejecting these plans?
The DNC is reccommending to reject the plan because a tele-caucus system would be susceptible to hackers.
3. Why had the Iowa Democratic Party recommended these changes?
Iowa recommends these changes because the traditional caucus system is not accessible for everyone, it can take many hours, and people have to show up in person. The tele-caucus system is more accessible.
4. Why is it so important that Iowa is the first contest? How do they influence the nomination process?
First contests show which candidates have large support bases. And it also determines the candidates that do not have a chance at winning the Democratic nomination.
5. Why are caucuses controversial as a nomination process?
Caucuses are very complex. People have to separate out into groups based on the candidate they support. Therefore, the caucus process takes many hours, which means people who have other obligations cannot participate in the caucus.
6. What is the problem with more people participating in the caucus process in recent elections?
As the number of people participating at a caucus site increases, the caucus process becomes longer. Caucuses initially had 50-100 people, now there can be thousands at one site.
7. Why are many arguing that this new form of caucus could be manipulated?
The DNC hired a security firm to hack into the virtual caucus system, and the firm was successful, which fuels concerns that the new caucus system is manipulatable. However, many Iowa party officials said that the hacked system was different from the system Iowa was building.
8. What would be the problem with Iowa changing to a primary?
By law, New Hampshire has to have the first primary, so if Iowa changes to a primary system, their first-in-the-nation status would be gone, which Iowa wants to keep. Iowa keeps that status by having a caucus, not a primary.
9. How does New Hampshire ensure that it is the first primary?
New Hampshire has a law that states that New Hampshire can move its primary election a week ahead of a state that tries to have a primary before New Hampshire.
Comments
Post a Comment