22
votes
Why is it so difficult to collect Iowa caucus results as opposed to election results?
This question is rather weird. The questions should be why is it difficult to collect the results quickly and accurately. Because they were collected quickly e.g. in 2012, but took 16 days to certify, ...
17
votes
Accepted
Why is it so difficult to collect Iowa caucus results as opposed to election results?
Why is it so difficult to collect Iowa caucus results...
It isn't. While other answers explain why it may be more difficult than ballot-election results, past caucus-based election results in Iowa ...
- 8,971
16
votes
Accepted
Why is the distinction between primary and caucus significant?
Background: In the United States, the nominees of the two major parties are determined in a series of state by state primaries or caucuses starting in January and spanning about six months, at which ...
- 85.3k
16
votes
Accepted
How does the math for the Iowa Democratic Caucuses work?
According to a training presentation from 2016 (slide 40), when computing viability all fractions are [to be] rounded UP to the next whole number.
Also (slide 47) the viability threshold is not ...
12
votes
How are Presidential candidates, who run for the party ticket in Primaries and Caucuses, shortlisted?
It varies from State to State, and even within a State, the rules might be different for different parties.
Generally candidates will either petition (collect signatures), pay a filing fee, or be ...
- 124k
8
votes
Why is the distinction between primary and caucus significant?
It matters because of the law in New Hampshire, which states that "The presidential primary election shall be held on the second Tuesday in March or on a date selected by the secretary of state [...
- 124k
7
votes
Why is it so difficult to collect Iowa caucus results as opposed to election results?
One of the major gripes that came out of the 2016 caucuses was that a close and contentious vote was not backed up with vote totals, meaning no recounts were possible.
Mr. Sanders said on his flight ...
- 51.6k
5
votes
What would it take to do away with the caucus system?
Typically, the rules and regulations on primaries are left up the corresponding State and National parties. Recently, at the Democratic National Convention rules committee a measure was passed to form ...
- 964
4
votes
Accepted
What would it take to do away with the caucus system?
Changing the way a state holds primary/caucuses requires a lot of moving parts. All states have caucuses to select delegates to the national convention, while some states also have primaries to bind ...
- 188
4
votes
Accepted
What was the Caucus App supposed to be used for?
Basically the app was designed to be used by party caucus leaders (rather than all the caucus voters) to (1) report results upstream to party leadership
and (2) implement the "caucus math" ...
4
votes
Will the current SDE difference between Buttigieg and Sanders translate into delegates?
The current estimate by The Green Papers, with 97% reporting, is as follows:
+-----------+----------------------------+---------------+
| Candidate | State Delegate Equivalents | DNC Delegates |
+----...
- 28k
4
votes
What exactly does one do and not do as an independent US senator who "caucuses with the Democrats"?
Here's the description of the party caucuses from Wikipedia
The largest caucuses are the party caucuses and conferences in the United States Congress, which are the partisan caucuses comprising all ...
- 11.2k
3
votes
Why is the distinction between primary and caucus significant?
The New Hampshire primary is like a normal election with polls that are open throughout the day. A caucus on the other hand is a gathering of voters at a specific time to decide who to support.
One ...
- 18.1k
3
votes
Accepted
What exactly does one do and not do as an independent US senator who "caucuses with the Democrats"?
It means that to they get to vote on things that the Democratic party gets to vote on. For Sinema, that means Senate majority leader, committees, etc. For someone in the house, it means Speaker of the ...
- 8,547
3
votes
Why is the distinction between primary and caucus significant?
The distinction is important to the people who write the news.
The New Hampshire primaries are important enough to report on (see e.g ohwilleke's answer). Being able to call it "the first in the ...
- 1,923
3
votes
How are Presidential candidates, who run for the party ticket in Primaries and Caucuses, shortlisted?
Rules will vary state to state, but most (if not all) states will require a minimum number of people to sign a nomination form for each candidate. Only candidates that are able to organise reasonably ...
- 28k
3
votes
How does the math for the Iowa Democratic Caucuses work?
Yes, that's roughly how caucusing works.
I've done it at state and county party conventions before. The whole body gets a representation based the size of the body (or some other set critera), and ...
- 14.6k
2
votes
Why is it so difficult to collect Iowa caucus results as opposed to election results?
Primaries are run by the parties in accordance with the rules of the state on primary voting, so problems with collecting the votes in primaries are exclusive to the state's chapter of that party. The ...
- 16.1k
2
votes
Accepted
Iowa Satellite voting and delegate awards
Each satellite will have delegates as would an individual precinct, and all the satellites’ delegates will be grouped into the equivalent of one “county” at the next step. people are not voting as ...
- 2,687
2
votes
Will the current SDE difference between Buttigieg and Sanders translate into delegates?
Update: the Iowa Democratic party has now officially called the SDE race in Buttigieg's favor 14:12. These results are still not officially "certified" though, meaning they can still be ...
2
votes
Accepted
How are Presidential candidates, who run for the party ticket in Primaries and Caucuses, shortlisted?
They aren't really, which is why recent presidential primary debates have needed comically large stages, or even had to split the field of hopefuls in half and go over two days.
As a lot of other ...
- 14.6k
1
vote
Why is the distinction between primary and caucus significant?
This is all in ohwilleke's answer, but maybe hard to understand the implications if you aren't already very familiar with the US political system.
They think the first primary will be closer to the ...
- 1,239
1
vote
Does the "viability threshold" in a caucus apply only to the 1st preference?
When it comes to delegates to the DNC, delegates from Iowa are awarded based on both congressional district and statewide levels.
If a candidate gets 15% of the vote in any congressional district, ...
- 28k
1
vote
Accepted
Does the "viability threshold" in a caucus apply only to the 1st preference?
According to the New York Times, there is a 15% threshold in both the first and final expressions (rounds), but it seems the rule applies at a per-precinct level, not to state-wide aggregates.
...
- 8,071
1
vote
Why was Mitt Romney initially incorrectly reported as the winner of the GOP Iowa caucus in 2012?
What news I could dig seem to point to a lack of proper paper trail in some places and plenty of typos...:
There are too many holes in the certified totals from the Iowa caucuses to know for certain ...
1
vote
Accepted
Are caucuses less democratic than primaries?
It would depend on whether you would consider a primary or a caucus to be more democratic or not.
Caucuses in some ways resemble the true democratic ideal. You gather people in a room and they ...
- 1,589
1
vote
Are caucuses less democratic than primaries?
Would changing the Democratic party rules regarding caucuses make an improvement similar to the elimination of the electoral college?
Only if you assume that the result of the non-binding ...
- 90k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible