NPR: Looking at Just Who Can Vote in Iowa Caucuses

Looking at Just Who Can Vote in Iowa Caucuses

When my dad worked in politics back in Canada, he used to tell me that he had one simple rule when it came to rounding up voters on Election Day: If they can breathe, they can vote.

After reading about the rules governing who can vote in the upcoming Iowa caucuses, I can see that it seems like pretty much the same idea. Oh, you still have to be a U.S. citizen. But you don't have to be registered. You don't have to be affiliated with any particular party. You don't even have to be 18 (you just have to be 18 by the November 2008 election).

You do need to sign a statement that says you're a resident of the precinct you're voting in. And that's about it. My high school's election for valedictorian had more complicated rules.

But as lenient as the rules might sound, don't try to cheat, warns NPR's Evie Stone, who went to a caucus training session. "If you take the risk of pretending to be from Iowa and trying to caucus, then not only will you probably be noticed by all the little old ladies who know EVERYONE in their precinct and can smell an imposter a mile off...but you could also get thrown in the clink," she wrote in an e-mail.

So maybe getting in is a little more complicated than I thought. And from there, it's a whole new ballgame. The rules for the caucuses are confusing even to many Iowans, and the Democrats and Republicans conduct the meetings differently. (The Democrats' method is the more complicated of the two.)

In 2000, the last contested GOP event, about 90,000 Republicans attended caucuses. In 2004, the Democrats attracted 124,000. Both parties expect more than 100,000 this time around.

3:40 PM ET | 11-27-2007 | permalink

Comments (Send a comment)

I just moved to Nevada, so not yet a resident of the state, but I wanted to learn about the caucus process. I've asked everyone from hairdressers, housekeepers, doctors, nurses, store clerks, bartenders,and so on...no one who lives here can tell me how it works. Most think you have to be elected, when or how they don't know, to be eligible to vote in a caucus. Others say anyone can go, but that it takes all day and is so confusing they've never felt part of the process. Some of the reasons given for this are: either left early, did what someone else told them was the proper thing or just hung out with their friends until, suddenly, the thing was over. On more careful questioning, however, it turns out none of these people had ever, personally, gone to a caucus, but had been told the above problems by people who (maybe) had.
I know the caucus is over for this election, but can anybody tell me what's going on?

Sent by Nancy Heisel | 12:28 PM ET | 01-21-2008

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