Iowa Caucuses (or Cauci?)

[ZiprHead]

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

You know what would solve all these issues? Not doing these dumb caucuses and just voting like normal people and then having Iowa take it's turn at the back of the line for several decades.

This is it in a nutshell. Caucuses leave a great many people without the ability to make their choice heard. People who have to work that night, the old, infirm, or disabled, no absentee ballot.

But I will say this also. I'm against open primaries. Why should people who are not members of the club get a say in who runs the club?

But people are attracted to the Iowa Caucuses because they're so much like a soap opera.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

But people are attracted to the Iowa Caucuses because they're so much like a soap opera.

But not a good soap opera like one where Biden wants to poison Sanders because his evil twin brother woke up from a coma and slept with Klobuchar.

It's more like a crappy soap opera where a bunch of old people held up signs and wandered off to different parts of an auditorium.

 

[Elixir]

Underway for almost an hour. First results (pre-realignment) due soon.

I think the final ranking will be
Bernie
Biden
Buttigieg
Klobuchar
Warren
Yang

Of course I will probably not get it all right, but I hope to be in the ballpark. Especially Klobuchar is a wildcard as to where she will end up.

You just went with the alphabetical order. Lazy.

 

[PyramidHead]

This just proves how insane it is to continue to use an extremely outdated method of voting. Only a tiny number of people actually showed up for the caucus vote and most of them were white. I hope that Iowa comes into the 21st Century and votes like normal people do. I also hope this will be the last year that Iowa goes first. And, not everyone who has won in Iowa went on to win the nomination. Tom Harkin had 76% of the delegates when he was running for president. Tom who? Iowa should be considered irrelevant. Why not have a large, diverse state go first or have all the states vote on or near Super Tuesday. Less money would be wasted and no small state would have an outsized influence in the race.

The conspiracy theories are nuts as to what happened in Iowa. They simply had a very bad plan, and it was known very early on Monday morning that there were major problems with the App. Hey Iowa! You fucked up royally.

Dr. Gibson McFuck weighs in on these unhinged conspiracy theorists:

The Bernie Bros will need a bit more to tie this "conspiracy" together than the Iowa caucuses failing for the first time in history due to a software company whose CEO supports the candidate who blitzed the media to declare victory before the votes were in.

I don't see any mention of that in this thread. The company that the DNC is using to count the votes is literally called Shadow, Inc., you cannot make this up.

After Epic 'Nightmare' in Iowa, Democratic App Built by Secretive Firm Shadow Inc. Comes Under Scrutiny

The app, according to several news reports, was developed by the secretive for-profit tech firm Shadow Inc., which has ties to and receives funding from ACRONYM, a Democratic digital non-profit organization. Shadow's CEO is Gerard Niemira, who worked on Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign.

"State campaign finance records indicate the Iowa Democratic Party paid Shadow... more than $60,000 for 'website development' over two installments in November and December of last year," HuffPost reported late Monday. "A Democratic source with knowledge of the process said those payments were for the app that caucus site leaders were supposed to use to upload the results at their locales."

Shadow has also been paid for services by the Nevada Democratic Party and the presidential campaigns of former Vice President Joe Biden and former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg, according to Federal Election Commission filings.

How on earth is this not at least a blatant conflict of interest and potentially election fraud?

 

[Derec]

When I saw this when I woke up, all I could think was that the Sanders supporters here are going to be livid.

And generally, everyone should be livid in the sense that the Democrat Party apparently screwed the pooch with this new system.

Iowa Democratic Party apparently could not organize a root at a brothel.

And it will give Trump a ready-made slogan. "They want to run the country but can't even organize a caucus". I guess it's going to be four more years ...

 

[Derec]

You know what would solve all these issues? Not doing these dumb caucuses and just voting like normal people and then having Iowa take it's turn at the back of the line for several decades.

I disagree. There is no reason why party nomination process should mimic the actual election - i.e. primaries.
Caucuses are participatory democracy and allow less known candidates and those not backed by the party machine to be competitive.
Without caucuses, Hillary would have lost to McCain in 2008.

 

[ZiprHead]

You know what would solve all these issues? Not doing these dumb caucuses and just voting like normal people and then having Iowa take it's turn at the back of the line for several decades.

I disagree. There is no reason why party nomination process should mimic the actual election - i.e. primaries.
Caucuses are participatory democracy and allow less known candidates and those not backed by the party machine to be competitive.
Without caucuses, Hillary would have lost to McCain in 2008.

That doesn't even make sense.

And how can caucuses be more democratic than an actual vote when so many are unable to participate in the caucus when they could participate in a vote?

 

[PyramidHead]

It's really too bad we can't come up with a better system than 1,700 separate meetings in different cafeterias where people who like the same candidate stand in close proximity to one another

 

[Tom Sawyer]

It's really too bad we can't come up with a better system than 1,700 separate meetings in different cafeterias where people who like the same candidate stand in close proximity to one another

Wait for more cases of the coronavirus to be spread to the US. Nobody will want to stand in close proximity to anyone and you can switch everything to e-voting, which can be more efficiently run from the Kremlin offices as opposed to needing to funnel money to immoral companies such as Facebook.

 

[southernhybrid]

It's really too bad we can't come up with a better system than 1,700 separate meetings in different cafeterias where people who like the same candidate stand in close proximity to one another

Wait for more cases of the coronavirus to be spread to the US. Nobody will want to stand in close proximity to anyone and you can switch everything to e-voting, which can be more efficiently run from the Kremlin offices as opposed to needing to funnel money to immoral companies such as Facebook.

WE can absentee vote in Georgia without a reason, so I think I'll do that if we have an epidemic.

 

[Trausti]

Why did they need a special app for this? Can’t just call / email the results? They’ve got a paper trail, right? Dumb.

 

[lpetrich]

Why did they need a special app for this? Can’t just call / email the results? They’ve got a paper trail, right? Dumb.

Because it's faster and because it simplifies the task of data entry.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "Everyone, let’s take a moment to
a) Breathe
&
b) Thank all the hardworking volunteers, canvassers, field staff, and folks who have worked so tirelessly on the ground.
We will get IA results. Let’s appreciate everyone who worked so hard & share a message of gratitude for them.
https://t.co/NB8u8Uzl7D" / Twitter
with a picture of a roomful of Bernie Sanders campaigners.


Elizabeth Warren on Twitter: "Yesterday we competed, but today we owe it to everyone who caucused in Iowa, and everyone who supports any of the candidates, to show that their voices and hard work count. Our party and our country need more people engaged in the critical mission of defeating Donald Trump. https://t.co/FBC5TC1DDp" / Twitter
noting
Roger Lau on Twitter: "Our campaign collected photos and other raw documentation of the results at hundreds of caucus locations as part of our internal reporting process. Today we will provide what we have to the Iowa Democratic Party to help ensure the integrity of their process." / Twitter

He is an Elizabeth Warren campaigner.

 

[jab]

Why did they need a special app for this? Can’t just call / email the results? They’ve got a paper trail, right? Dumb.

Corrupt, perhaps, more than dumb. Expect similar delays and electronic system problems in the actual Presidential vote tally.

 

[Don2 (Don1 Revised)]

Why did they need a special app for this? Can’t just call / email the results? They’ve got a paper trail, right? Dumb.

Your post is boring.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Word is 5 PM EST for the 'majority' of the Caucus results.

 

[PyramidHead]

Effectively, the DNC is demonstrating they are at best incompetent and unable to manage basic functions of civic participation, and at worst, shady and duplicitous in their outsourcing of such functions to a private corporation with ties to at least two candidates in the race. If there is such an overlap between incompetence and malice that the outcome is consistent with either explanation, the end result is an erosion of trust in the Dems' ability to function, let alone govern. This may actually help the outsider candidates like Sanders, Gabbard, and Yang.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

I hope Sanders wins because it'll be holy hell from Sanders supporters in social media otherwise.

 

[Elixir]

Effectively, the DNC is demonstrating they are at best incompetent and unable to manage basic functions of civic participation, and at worst, shady and duplicitous in their outsourcing of such functions to a private corporation with ties to at least two candidates in the race. If there is such an overlap between incompetence and malice that the outcome is consistent with either explanation, the end result is an erosion of trust in the Dems' ability to function, let alone govern. This may actually help the outsider candidates like Sanders, Gabbard, and Yang.

Ah, that's exactly what they WANT you to think MWahahaha!
The GOP sabotaged their phones, hacked the machines and stuffed a bunch of bogey ballots in boxes all over the State.

 

[funinspace]

You know what would solve all these issues? Not doing these dumb caucuses and just voting like normal people and then having Iowa take it's turn at the back of the line for several decades.

I disagree. There is no reason why party nomination process should mimic the actual election - i.e. primaries.
Caucuses are participatory democracy and allow less known candidates and those not backed by the party machine to be competitive.
Without caucuses, Hillary would have lost to McCain in 2008.

The Dums could have put up any idiot, buffoon, or blowhard, say like a Dotard...and still won against the Republican (McCain) nominee in 2008.