JANUARY 29, 2016, 8:16 PM LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, JANUARY 29, 2016, 11:51 PM
BY HERB JACKSON
WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT |
THE RECORD
After all the ads, direct mail, handshakes, polls and speeches, the first votes in the 2016 presidential selection process will finally be cast on Monday in Iowa.
And they will be cast in a process that would seem very foreign to New Jersey voters, one that’s much more public, more time-consuming and more collaborative.
In primaries like New Jersey’s, voting is largely a solitary thing. The voter goes behind a curtain at a polling place between 6 a.m. and 8 p.m. on Election Day or fills in a mail-in ballot days earlier at home.
In Iowa, caucuses are a group event, and everything starts at the same time, 7 p.m. Central Standard Time, in 1,681 precincts around the state.
Iowa Republicans use secret paper ballots, but they do it in a room filled with their neighbors and friends after hearing speeches about the candidates. After the presidential vote is over, the caucus can continue for hours more, as the precinct debates party policies and picks representatives for a county convention that will happen later.
“Who you’re voting for for president is usually the easy part,” said Judd Saul of Cedar Falls, a self-described “Teavangelist” who leads a group called Patriots for Christ. “The tricky part is when we get in there and start discussing what the platform is going to be, what planks people want the precinct to submit to the Republican Party platform.”
Democrats in Iowa don’t even use the secret ballot: They require people to separate into different parts of the room to show which candidates they are supporting. Horse trading can begin if a candidate’s support is less than 15 percent, a possibility for Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, who polls show has support in the single digits while Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders battle for the lead.
https://www.northjersey.com/news/how-do-the-iowa-caucuses-work-anyway-1.1502304