What can the DNC do to help states to permanently eliminate caucuses?

[Oopsie Daisy]

Caucuses potentially disenfranchise voters, particularly those who have difficulty attending caucus meetings due to work schedules, disabilities, or other reasons. Unlike primary elections, which are held throughout the day and allow voters to cast their ballots at a time that is convenient for them, caucuses typically require voters to attend a specific meeting at a specific time in order to participate.

In addition, it's my understanding that caucus systems can be complex and confusing, which may discourage some voters from participating. It's also clear (to me) that caucuses can be less democratic than primaries, as they often involve a smaller percentage of the electorate and can be dominated by party activists and insiders.

Another potential concern with caucuses is that unlike primary elections, where voters cast their ballots in private, caucuses involve public meetings where voters must declare their support for a particular candidate in front of others. This can create a situation where voters may feel pressure from others to support a particular candidate or may be intimidated into not expressing their true preferences.

Furthermore, caucus attendees may be subject to peer pressure or aggressive tactics from supporters of a particular candidate, which could further discourage participation or lead to a situation where the loudest and most vocal attendees dominate the proceedings.

In contrast, primary elections allow voters to cast their ballots in private, which can help to ensure that they are able to freely express their preferences without fear of intimidation or reprisal. This is seen as a key advantage of primary elections over caucuses, particularly in states with a history of voter suppression or where there are concerns about the safety of voters or having to deal with aggressive "grass roots" groups.

Should the DNC help states to eliminate caucuses? What can the DNC do to help states to permanently eliminate caucuses?

[tritsofme]

1. Caucuses should simply not be an acceptable form of delegate selection.

The secret ballot must be sacrosanct

[Demsrule86]

3. No primary this year so who cares?

[tritsofme]

6. Huh? If anything, that makes it the perfect time to solve the problem.

It would be much harder to change the status quo once the ball gets rolling on 2028.

And there will indeed be primaries and caucuses across the country next year to select the delegates that will renominate Biden/Harris. Weird comment.

[Demsrule86]

10. It is not an problem we can solve. For example, in Iowa the Caucus is state law and

The GOP government won't budge. How can you fix that? You can only stop giving Iowa any influence.

[Oopsie Daisy]

9. What I was thinking is that NOW is the time. Help states to get transitioned in advance.

[Demsrule86]

12. We can't do anything about Iowa...it is a law and the GOP won't budge. Those state that

hold caucuses are small and will have little effect. We could not count their delegates and probably should.

[UTUSN]

2. K&R

[Xavier Breath]

4. When I first read about how a caucus works

I couldn't believe what I was reading. All the sitting around, and having to defend your supporting your candidate, or trying to convince someone to abandon theirs, seems absolutely crazy. Let me vote and get the hell out of there already.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

5. I was with the Obama voter protection team in 2008 which was the last year of Texas Two Step

Prior to 2012, Texas had a process called the Texas Two Step where a portion of the delegates were selected in a primary and the rest of the delegates were selected the night of the primary at a caucus. I ended up being the leader of my precinct's caucus where we had over 100 people attending. After the precinct caucus, each county convention met and selected the delegates to the state convention based on the caucus result and the primary. The Obama campaign had training sessions on how to game the caucus portion and I learned some fun tricks. Bottom line, Hillary won the Texas primary but President Obama won the most Texas delegates. There was a credential challenge to my county's delegates that was pending until Hillary Clinton conceded one day before the Texas state democratic convention.

Caucuses are not democratic. I was happy when the DNC made Texas drop the Texas two-step in 2012.

[MichMan]

7. Refuse to participate in any of them is one way

Last edited Mon Jul 10, 2023, 10:40 PM - Edit history (2)

When Michigan moved their primary up several years ago, the DNC said that delegates from Michigan would not be allowed to count. They later conceded to count half of them come convention time.

[LiberalFighter]

8. The only avenue I see is for DNC members to change their bylaws.

[pecosbob]

11. The 2016 caucus here in Las Vegas was horrid...glad it's gone.