16 years ago? Don't you mean 12?

The republican caucus doesn't work the same way as the democratic one, actually. This describes the democratic caucus. The republicans vote just like normal at the caucus.

So... Dan supports voter ID laws, I guess?

@5 . . . it does open the worm can. Life, as Dan well knows . . . is complicated.

Isn't this sort of the idea behind showing identification before voting? Not that this is really voting, anyway. Each party can elect their candidate any way they choose, including holding contests on who can bay at the moon the longest. Vote third party. It's the only way.

@7, this is indeed voting -- caucuses are primaries.

Voting third party is simply baying at the moon in the wilderness; it doesn't mean anything in this country. But if it gives you satisfaction to have no real input into the political situation, feel free to bay.

@8 -- Not really. Or at least it isn't like a regular election. You are helping to pick a party candidate. The party is in charge, not the individual. The party can decide to pick a candidate however it wants. It used to be done in smoke filled rooms with party bosses. There is sill a little of that now (without the smoke) but it is up to the party to decide how to do things -- who to allow and so forth. That largely occurs on a state by state level (some caucus, some have primaries, some allow underage folks if they are going to be 18 by election time, etc.).

In this case, they wanted you to fill out a voter registration form. That is where you fucked up. That is where you broke the law. If you had walked in with a fake ID (a fake voter ID) then I think there would be nothing they could do (although I could be wrong). But fill out a voter registration form with falsified information -- that's a felony dude.

You can establish residency, make sure a person is registered, and make sure they vote only once, without requiring EXTRA identification measures that some (mostly poor) people don't have. States have been doing it for years. And don't get me started on "purging" the rolls of only certain districts; that reveals the motivation behind these measures pretty clearly.

IDK but it seems to me when the Iowa Caucuses structure was set up everybody was drunk.

I went to the Iowa democratic caucus last night (as an observer - I'm Canadian), and while my Iowa-resident companion filled out his registration card we noticed that in the residence section it included something like : "if homeless or without fixed residence, please describe where you reside" - it seems as though Iowa, on the democrat side at least, places a high priority giving all residents an opportunity to participate in the process (we all know ID laws disenfranchise the poor and indigent). I think that's a good thing?

I'm a ballot clerk in NH and I'm glad not to have a caucus. I'll also be glad when next week is over and the phone calls can stop. it's crazy.