Iowa Democrats' changes protect a piece of our political culture — the caucuses

For decades, small-town Iowa fans and the national media were enthralled with Iowa 6-on-6 high school girls’ basketball, played mostly in towns with no stoplights. It was quaint. It was unique. It was entertaining to watch. I was a fan.

Even though the 6-on-6 game officially died in 1993, still around some small-town dinner tables you can spark a lively debate about the pros and cons of the game. Some believe it was time to bring Iowa into the next century, while others believe we lost a vital bit of Iowa culture.

Another part of Iowa’s unique culture will play out on February 3, 2020, when Iowans will be asked to begin the long selection process for a presidential nominee for both parties at precinct caucuses.

This first stage of the presidential nominating process is often judged to be quaint by the national media, so they scour rural Iowa for the most “homespun” caucus site they can find, and maybe even add a bale of hay to create the scene.

Since the Republicans have gone all-in with President Donald Trump, there may not be much action on that side, but we’ll still need at least a Class 2A-sized gym to hold all the Democratic presidential wannabes.

Quaint, but also accountable

Just recently, I spent a few hours in caucus training.  Never mind that I’d participated in and helped lead a number of caucuses in various shapes and sizes since my inaugural one in 1976.  I now realize that, like the stars of the 6-on-6 game, even those with 30 or more years running caucuses, need to be trained in the new rules.

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The Iowa Democratic Central Committee has done an excellent job walking the line between preserving the major attributes and assuring that none of the caucus quaintness gets in the way of caucus accountability.

Without getting too deep into all of the new rules, one of the larger changes will allow two positive outcomes. Once people have chosen a presidential preference and the group is determined as viable based on the number of people who chose that candidate, they will be asked to fill out a presidential preference card.  These cards will allow two important things.

First, the number who chose a particular candidate will be released statewide instead of just the delegate count for each candidate. This will give a clearer picture of candidate strength coming out of Iowa. 

Second, if there are questions after the fact regarding what happened in a particular caucus, there can be a recount of presidential preference groups.  Both of these rule changes are important for transparency and accuracy.

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The other major change is the opportunity to attend a satellite caucus if a person is unable to attend his/her caucus site on caucus night.  This is done by application and is designed to increase participation.  

Will these changes and the others seal the deal so Iowa keeps its first in the nation status for future elections?  The rule changes will help, but I also predict that candidates who finish without one of the three or four tickets to New Hampshire will try to assure the public the caucuses are deeply flawed and should be replaced. They aren’t, and they shouldn’t.

So, unlike the death of 6-on-6, the caucuses will survive because of rule changes and so will a huge part of Iowa culture.

Bruce Lear of Sioux City was a regional director for the Iowa State Education Association for 27 years. This column originally appeared in the Des Moines Register.