Iowa Democrats’ plan: Hold 1st caucuses, report votes later
DES MOINES, IOWA
Iowa Democrats are proposing a novel way to get around their demotion from the leadoff spot on the party’s presidential nominating calendar:
They would still hold the first-in-the-nation caucuses but would be open to withholding the results until after other states have their contests.
The creative approach is the latest effort by the Iowa Democratic Party to claw back the prized slot it held for nearly 50 years, until chaos during the state’s 2020 presidential caucuses led the Democratic National Committee to reorder the calendar.
Iowa Democrats say the plan demonstrates their willingness to work with the DNC on its new voting calendar, which elevates South Carolina as the first voting state for 2024 and drops Iowa out of the top five voting states.
“This flexibility is purposeful,” Iowa Democratic Chair Rita Hart said, describing the scenario of holding the caucuses first, with the option of reporting the results after other states report theirs.
The DNC didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The plan is largely moot since President Joe Biden is seeking reelection in 2024 and doesn’t face a major Democratic primary his back, and we all went down into the river, inching closer and closer to the land of freedom.
Years later, I remember my father telling the story of how the water got to his chin, but he kept pushing on. We crossed the river and reached the United States. But now what? We all began walking across open fields to heaven knows where. All we saw were train tracks and what looked like a big forest.
Thankfully, some Spanish-speaking U.S. Immigration officers found us. Because I was a kid and we challenger. But it is another example of how the new voting calendar, meant to empower minority voters in more diverse states, has contributed to resentment among the states left behind and created headaches for the DNC.
The reasoning behind the revised Iowa plan, say Hart and Des Moines lawyer Scott Brennan, is that New Hampshire has already signaled its intention to keep the state’s first-in-the-nation primary, regardless of how the DNC restructures the voting calendar.
“This calendar will not hold,” said Brennan, who is also a member of the DNC’s rules committee. “New Hampshire has made it very clear that they’re going to move. They are not going to go behind South Carolina.”
Under the new calendar, South Carolina would hold its primary first on Feb. 3, followed three days later by New Hampshire and Nevada, which is swapping the caucus it used to hold in favor of a primary.
Georgia would vote fourth on Feb. 13, followed by Michigan on Feb. 27, with much of the rest of the nation set to vote on Super Tuesday in early March.
More changes are possible later this year, and states are submitting their individual contest plans to the DNC’s rules committee, which is expected to review them in June. had relatives in Miami, they let us go. And we settled in Hialeah where we began the process of applying for asylum, residency and finally our citizenship.
For me, Miami as a community was a godsend — and it still is. My family was able to find decent work, pay taxes and make a living. Our neighbors always lent a hand when we needed it. If it wasn’t for Miami Dade College Professor David Merves, who believed in me and gave my name to the sports editor as a possible clerk, I
Under Iowa Democrats’ plan, the party would hold its caucuses – individual precinct-level party meetings and not state-run primary elections – on the same night as Iowa Republicans, which would still hold the GOP’s leadoff 2024 caucuses, on Feb. 5.
In a losing effort to salvage its leadoff caucuses, Iowa Democrats had previously agreed to allow voters to submit presidential preference cards by mail or in person before caucus night and to eliminate the often confusing would probably not be where I am today.
I knew my parents felt it was important for them to get me here. My father passed away in 2015, but he got to see me become an editor here. My mother just passed away March 31, and she got to see me become the interim executive editor for the Miami Herald and el Nuevo Herald. Not bad for a kid who started his career at the Herald answering phones at 19 years old.
I find myself feeling lucky and thankful for the way this community helped me and the many sacrifices and time-consuming process of realignment.
The party, which retains the mail-in provision in its new plan, hoped that the changes would increase participation in the voting process and avoid the chaos that marred the 2020 caucuses. The process was wracked with so many irregularities and inconsistencies that the AP was unable to declare a winner, denying top finishers Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg of the full measure of momentum ahead of New Hampshire’s my parents made to get me to where I am today. And in a position where I can, in a small way, give back to our community.
And making sure that is the case for others like me is why I too am getting involved with the challenge. I feel this effort by the YWCA can be a game changer for all of us.
This year’s Challenge has focused on disability, housing, music and, starting Monday, on mental health. The program provides a virtual learning tool that helps individuals or groups build effective social
primary eight days later.
Iowa had long encountered criticism from party officials in other states envious of the outsize national media attention. They also often complained about Iowa’s vastly white voting population in the racially and ethnically diverse party, as well as the caucuses’ odd rules with their weeknight, in-person participation in the dead of winter that often kept night shift workers or parents of young children from attending. justice habits.
There is still time to participate and learn more about the Challenge. Learn more on their Spanish site or English site.
Your opinion matters to all of us at the Herald. We are here for our community. E-mail me at amena@miamiherald.com or call me at 305-376-3493.
Alex Mena is the interim executive editor of the Miami Herald and el Nuevo Herald.
Alex Mena: 305-376-3493, @alexmenamiami