Thread for Actual Action

[?]

So does anyone have a way to suggest changes to the Iowa 2020 caucus? Remember we need to get there first so UnfairVote does not take the baton away and run with it.

[Steve Cobb]

So far most of us tend to act in those states where we live and/or have contacts, but let's consider Iowa. The early-primary/caucus states (NH and IA) are always under pressure from envious larger states, some with reasonable claims. NH's position seems pretty secure; their first-in-the-nation primary has been their secretary of state's life's work. I've discussed AV with him a couple times, and he always brings up problems that IRV caused elsewhere (he cites Oregon). But Iowa... If they are worried about losing their special status (not sure what the latest is on that), perhaps they would consider some innovation. 

In the 2011 NH GOP state convention, a few of us ran an informal approval poll in parallel with the official straw poll. So long before the real primary there were two dozen candidates, and the official poll was absurdly split, to the point of being meaningless. Our approval poll produced very different results: Tim Pawlenty won (ahead of Michele Bachmann and Mitt Romney). Nobody was passionate about him, but he was maximally palatable--the pizza candidate. We organized our poll at the last minute, and rather annoyed the people running the official poll. I was working with long-term GOP insiders, including a state rep. If you try pitching big changes from the outside, good luck. One builds such social capital only over time.

My recommendation on strategizing is that we catalog opportunities, catalog resources, and then look for matches. To my knowledge, have people with state-level contacts in AZ, CO, NH, and OR. We seem to lack that in IA--how else could we approach them? Publish an article?

[Brian Langstraat]

I am an Iowan and started a Topic, Elections in Iowa, that (reasonably) had no replies.

Iowa gets a disproportionate amount of political influence and annoying ads during presidential elections, since we are have the first-in-the-nation caucus and are usually a swing state.

Previously, my participation in politics was casual as an Independent that voted each Election Day.

In 2016, I participated in the Democratic Caucus and filled-out my Democratic registration at-the-door.

The caucuses are essentially public Ranked Choice Voting (RCV).

Initially, I was in the Undecided group then walked over to the Martin O'Malley group (for fun).

The Martin O'Malley group was well below the threshold, so must of us merged with the Bernie Sanders group.

We raised our hands to be counted with Hillary Clinton receiving 3 county delegates and Bernie Sanders receiving 2 county delegates.

FairVote does have an advantage, since a Democratic transition from the controversial public "RCV" to balloted RCV would seem like the obvious change.

Approval Voting (AV) by counting raised hands for approved candidates would be a simpler change, but it would not maintain proportional allocation.

Unfortunately, AV would have worked well before 2012, since "Beginning with the 2012 Presidential election, Iowa switched from the old winner-take-all allocation to proportional allocation.".

Balloted AV and Range Voting (RV) with proportional allocation could work well, but they may be too complex for a traditional neighborhood caucus.

The Republican caucus uses private Write-In (WI) Single Non-Transferable Voting (SNTV) which approaches ideal proportionality with 30 state delegates allocated.

I have promoted both WI and SNTV on this Forum, so I would support this voting method's use in the Democratic caucus as well.

A more popular but unofficial (and unscientific) vote is the annual WHO-HD Channel 13 "Cast Your Kernel" poll at the Iowa State Fair.

I have been to the Iowa State Fair many summers and participated in this poll several times.

It is fun to walk up to the booth, be handed a kernel of corn, drop it in the glass jar with your favorite candidate's name and picture, and instantly seeing how much support each candidate has so far.

This corny poll is essentially SNTV, but it would become Asset Voting if the candidates had to barter with each other to determine a single winner at the end of the Iowa State Fair.

FairVote's RCV would not be able to take advantage of using simple kernels for voting.

The CES could partner with WHO-HD Channel 13 or another local organization to setup a polling booth that uses AV.

"Pick Your Ear" poll:

Each voter could participate in the poll once daily.

Each voter would be given a dried ear of corn with more kernels than candidates.

Every candidate would be included and organised by each party.

For each approved candidate, a voter would pull a single kernel of corn off the cob and cast it that candidate's glass jar.

Each voter would return the dried ear of corn with the remaining kernels (to be reused).

The candidate with the most kernels at the end of the Iowa State Fair is the winner.

For RV, voters could cast multiple kernels per jar.

If there needs to be a limited number of kernels per voter, then the poll uses Allocation Voting.

With support from the CES, I would be willing to look into something like this.