This year I have decided to pay attention to the US presidential election and the lengthy run-up which has already started a long time ago. BBC and Sky News are showing it a lot so I guess they decided for me but anyway …
I have been watching the coverage from the Iowa caucuses. What is a caucus you say? That’s what I thought but wikipedia soon explained. Apparently they are public ballots held by both the Democratic and Republican parties (Nobody else does this I think, but as Kang and Kodos said, it is a two-party system in the states).
Both parties do their caucases differently. The Republicans have a simple system where everyone attending writes down their preference for Republican presidential candidate on a piece of paper and these are then counted. Fair enough. The Democrats do it differently, where candidates with <15% of the vote are eliminated and people who voted for them choose someone else. This is like the system used in Irish general elections where one can vote with as many preferences as one likes. When your first choice is elected/eliminated, then your vote gets transferred to your 2nd choice if you indicated one.
The upshot of it all is that Barack Obama (a member of the US senate with the support of Oprah!) won the Democratic caucus and Mike Huckabee (an evangelical preacher with the support of Chuck Norris – I kid you not!) won the Republican caucus.
But a few things I have noticed are noteworthy I think. Firstly, I was very surprised with the big deal that is made of all this. Americans are really into their elections! This is great, and anything that makes more people vote is brilliant. What I don’t understand is why the voter turnout in the states is typically notoriously very low? Then again, all the reports from these polls in Iowa suggest turnout their at least had doubled this time around. Cool. Secondly, it seems that voters have to register their party allegiance officially! Yes you can be a registered Democrat or Republican. Surely this is quite odd? Isn’t that invasive/illegal? It seems like a weird practice to me. Can anyone explain this to me? I can’t imagine anyone in Ireland being asked to register their allegiance to Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Labour, …; or people in the UK being asked to register whether they were Labour, Tory, Lib Dem, ….
Evan
Kang [running for President]: Abortions for all!
[crowd boos]
Very well, Abortions for none!
[crowd boos]
Abortions for some, miniature American flags for the others!
[crowd cheers]
And that’s the essence of American politics. The Simpsons had it right the whole time.
The Simpsons always have it right!!!! I really do like that particular episode. Very funny indeed.
Evan
Some thoughts…
(1) Americans are into their election coverage. See Jon Stewart’s `Indecision 2000 and Indecision 2004′ sketches on http://www.thedailyshow.com/ . When it comes to thinking carefully about our choices, we have a `kinda sucky’ track record.
(2) I think the electoral college system is partially to blame for the low voter turn out, among other things.
(3) Voters don’t have to register with any party, they can register as independent or change every year. Part of the purpose of this is to determine who can caucus (if the party only allows party members to caucus). Another purpose appears to be to produce an opt-out calling list for party phone-bankers to remind people of their party to vote. (Very annoying.)
(4) http://www.indecision2008.com/
(5) Unfortunately (in case you haven’t noticed it), American elections are driven by large sums of money, and hence by the groups of people who have large sums of money. (6-ish years ago the McCain-Feingold campaign reform act was an important step in the right direction.) This relates to the end of point (1).
(6) Also, the fact that the caucuses don’t occur simultaneously is a bit awkward. Historically, candidates who have won Iowa (the first caucus) have an advantage for the others — psychologically it shows that the candidate is the `real deal’ and is electable.
thanks flip – you have given me some videos to watch! i still don’t get the registering thing. even if it is optional. especially if it is used to allow you to partake in opinion polls! and they ring you to remind you to vote!!!! surely that is just wrong!! and i can imagine it is annoying as you say! i mean how can you not know there is an election – i assume (like everywhere else) the streets get plastered in campaign posters, the tv coverage is huge etc. i would be so mad if someone rang me to tell me to vote!!
when are the international brotherhood of physicists taking over world government anyway? soon i hope, but maybe after my PhD. I call vice president! no wait – junior vice president!
Evan
Ah! Found a nice explanation on the BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7049207.stm
cool flip! that is a good explanation! i thought the last bit about parties penalising states and cutting delegate numbers was interesting.
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