Gearing up for secret ballots

January 2nd, 2008 at 11:06pm Aaron Chambers

Democrats in Iowa caucus with their feet. Within a room, they stand in specified places to signify their support for particular candidates. Then they try to coax others to abandon their candidates and join their packs.

You could say Republicans, on the other hand, like a caucus tidy. There’s no shuffle around the room. There’s just a box and a secret ballot for each voter.

The Republicans indicate their choice on their ballots, then deposit them. Judges count the votes and announce the winner (at least two judges generally manage the count, to guard against bias). Then a caucus representative phones GOP headquarters with the name of the winner (again, as with the counting, a witness may monitor this phone call to ensure the representative reports the correct name).

There you have it: Democracy in action, in the style of Iowa Republicans.

Politico.com recently ran a fine backgrounder on the caucus process. There’s more background here, here and here.

Entry Filed under: secret ballots