Evers describes Iowa Caucus process as voter suppression.
MADISON - Wisconsin’s Democratic governor laid into the Iowa caucuses Tuesday, saying they amount to a form of voter suppression.
What’s more, the Hawkeye State shouldn’t get to be first to have its say in nominating presidential candidates every four years, Gov. Tony Evers said.
The first-term Democrat made the comments a day after the Iowa Democratic Party drew condemnation for its inability to quickly report the results of its caucuses. The scrutiny follows years of criticism for holding caucuses that in many cases require voters to remain in voting precincts for hours.
“It’s just me thinking out loud here, but to have a situation where people have to go to some place, stick around for four hours and have these interesting debates and then actually vote and then move — why don’t we just go into the booth and vote?” Evers told reporters Tuesday. “To me that makes sense.
“I’ve always viewed what happens in Iowa, and I think last night proved it, there’s a bit of voter suppression going on . ... What family, if you’ve got a bunch of kids, you’re going to say, ‘Oh, I’m going for four hours down the street here and spend my time walking around and talking about what candidate is good?’ “
He said he hopes Democrats use Monday’s problems to reflect on better ways to pick their nominee.
“I’m just hoping that the Democratic Party looks at this in a serious way,” he said. “It’s about the goof ups that happened, but more importantly, is this a good way of giving people a chance to vote? You’re cutting out a whole bunch of the people that would vote if they could just go and vote.”
Asked if Iowa should always have the first say in picking a nominee, Evers said, “We should look at something different.”