This past week was the beginning of the first of this election cycle with the Iowa Caucus. The Xavierite would like to inform the students of Saint Xavier of the importance of this election via this article. After interviewing Political Science Professor Elizabeth Alejo, there were a number of things that students at Saint Xavier should be aware of about the election cycle.
The first question, and most likely the one that is on everyone’s mind is “What is a Caucus and what is a primary?”
When asked to describe what a Caucus is, Professor Alejo said that “Both are ways in which people get to choose the eventual nominee for their party. They are both very much party activities. The core difference between [a] primary and [a] caucus is that the primary is in a primary people are going out and choosing a ballot and voting for the delegates that will represent them in the formal nomination process.”
A key factor in how people vote during the Caucus is which candidate visits the most counties in that particular state.
“When picking the nominee in the primaries, Caucuses are more community based and people get together with their neighbors and talk about who they want as their nominee and then they submit there after deliberation in small group they will go on to choose their selection and then from there we move on to formally within that state they choose within their areas.”
Along with this, she also mentions how caucuses are symbols of local democracy in her opinion.
When asked to go a little more in depth about the caucuses, Professor Alejo brought up how there are tiers in the selection process as you vote for two people and if one does not win, then the vote goes to the second choice. This is largely based on who gets the majority in these groups.
The next question I asked had to do with the fact that right now, there are only Democrats in the caucuses and primaries and if this has to do with our current president being a Republican, the answer to this is: “The thing right now is that the contested nomination process is in the Democratic party. They’re the ones who are trying to figure out who is going to be their eventual nominee. The Republicans already have a nominee.”
Following that question, the focus then shifted more towards the Iowa Caucus itself and why it is the first Caucus and what the importance of it is. The answer to the first part of that question is fairly simple.
As Alejo mentions, it is the first Caucus mostly out of tradition. As for the second part of the question, Professor Alejo had this to say, “Because they go first, usually the idea is that they influence who is going to stay in the race and who is going to drop out of the race.”
The importance of Iowa plays a deciding factor in why the Democratic party is thrown for a loop after the chairperson for the Democratic National Convention has called for a recanvas of Iowa coming only days before the New Hampshire Primary. The recanvas follows a series of issues with an app that the attendees of the Caucus were using along with a very tight race between South Bend mayor Pete Buttigieg and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.
As the interview was winding down, the discussion shifted more to why students here at Saint Xavier should be paying attention to the election right now.
Professor Alejo responded by saying, “Because the early Caucuses, they might influence the behaviors of the candidates and ultimately might help us narrow the field. Right now, the Democratic field is still pretty big. It has narrowed some, but still not enough.”
She continued with, “No matter who wins, its democracy in action. Certainly in terms of caucuses or primaries in general, this is really where people get to pick the person who then gets to go on and try to win the presidency. Becoming president is formally selected through the electoral college, but this is where your vote is valued as much as during the general election.”
When asked if there was anything else that the students should be aware of she had this to say: “The Illinois Primaries are March 17, and if [students] are going to vote in the primaries, they should do so. [Students] should express their will in that way. [Students] can also register the day of [the primary]. If there is one thing we should know, it is that we are participating in this election process on March 17.”
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