“Until Iowa” Post 6: Today,
Jan. 20, is MLK Jr. Day. We marked it with three hours of training for the Iowa
Caucuses 14 days from now. It was a strenuous morning, learning leadership to
help the evening of Feb. 3 go well. First, people in our precinct will register
as a caucus voter, a new voter, a youth observer, other observers, or the media.
New this year for the Democrats will be
presidential preference cards. Yes, those will be signed and counted after the first
alignment in preference groups, so the nation will know the total number of
people who voted for each presidential candidate.
Then comes the math. Based on
the number of delegates one’s precinct will have to the county convention, a
percentage determines if a presidential preference group is viable. There are careful
procedures. I picture it taking time, but being thoughtful. Perhaps there are
247 or maybe 432 caucus voters and 8 delegates assigned this precinct. By
counting, multiplication, and rounding up to the fourth decimal point, how many
actual delegates each presidential candidate receives is determined. The nation will be waiting that night for this
number from the 1678 caucuses in the 99 counties of Iowa.
There’s still more work to
do: choosing the actual delegates and alternates to the county convention. The gathered
caucus goers will have opportunity to discuss and adopt resolutions to recommend
to the Country Platform Committee. Yes, challenging
work. We will do it together in this participatory democracy. Martin Luther
King Jr worked his entire life so that all might have voice and vote.
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