OPINION

Kathie Obradovich | The Des Moines Register

Des Moines Register

Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang, speaking to several hundred young voters last weekend, said he understood why many young Americans are politically disengaged and why Iowans are different:

“The fact is if you engage in our politics, it can be really depressing, it feels like people aren’t talking to you, and you despair that your time and energy is not going to actually bear any improvement on your life, your way of life. And it’s not just that chunk of young people who are deciding to disengage. Twenty-five percent of Americans are politically disengaged because they don’t believe that we can actually solve these problems. I understand completely.

“The reason why I’m here in Iowa along with the other parade of candidates, is because this is one of the only places where what I just said is patently false. You all can actually make a big, big difference. If I were in any other state in the country, I’d be lying to you if I said your vote could make a big difference, but here, it can. You only need about 40,000 Iowans to change the future of this country.”

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Yang was making one of the strongest cases I’ve heard so far this cycle about why the Iowa caucuses are important and why Iowans should participate. He goes on:

“I did the math: Do you know how many Californians each Iowan is worth? One thousand. … That is the magic of this state. This is the only place where democracy actually works.”

Yang is right, and he’s pointing out why not just young Iowans but all Iowans should embrace the caucuses. They present an opportunity to effect political change that simply could not happen in other states. Candidates can have success in caucuses even if they don’t wield the most money or fame or run the most TV ads. They can do well here on the strength of their ideas.

The audience at the Youth Voice forum, co-sponsored by the Register and Des Moines Public Schools, understood that. Several hundred high school and college students turned out on a Sunday morning to hear a half-dozen candidates and ask them questions. They would not have that opportunity if Iowa gave up its caucuses.

Just the day before, more than 12,000 people, most of them Iowans, sat through periodic showers to hear presidential candidates and cheer them on at the Polk County Democratic Party’s steak fry. Using Yang’s math, that was a display of political power equivalent to 12 million people from other states.

Olivia Sun/The Register

I bring this up because it’s clear that many Iowans who plan to participate in the February 2020 caucuses don’t understand why they matter so much. In the new Des Moines Register/CNN/Mediacom Iowa Poll, likely Democratic caucusgoers were split on whether Iowa would be better off keeping the caucuses or holding a primary election.

In the poll, 42 percent said Iowa would be better off keeping the caucuses, “even if it means not everyone who wants to can participate on caucus night.” Forty-four percent said it is more important for Iowa to hold a primary “so everyone can vote, even if it means Iowa would no longer” be first in the nation.

The Iowa Democratic Party has worked hard since 2012 to find ways to make it so people don’t have to choose between caucuses and accessibility. Earlier this month, the Democratic National Committee threw a wrench in the party’s plans for telephonic “virtual” caucuses over concerns about security. Party chairman Troy Price and other caucus advocates deserve a huge amount of credit for navigating that treacherous situation with the state’s first-in-the-nation status intact. Meanwhile, the IDP is expanding its plans for satellite caucuses, which would allow voters to participate in their workplace, school or senior center.

It’s not a perfect solution, but it’s progress. When I wrote about this subject a few weeks ago, some readers misconstrued my comment that caucuses were never intended to be convenient. I was not saying they should not be accessible — quite the contrary. For the caucuses to maintain their relevance, they have to keep growing in participation, and that means breaking down barriers for people who have mobility issues, inflexible work schedules, child-care needs and more.

But that does not have to mean Iowa must give up its first-in-the-nation status — and its unmatched opportunity to interact with and influence candidates — by dumping the caucuses in favor of a primary. Technology will resolve most accessibility issues. As I said before, the DNC should be working with Iowa, not against it, as it experiments with ideas like virtual caucuses.

It’s understandable that Iowans are increasingly impatient with accessibility issues related to the caucuses, but those issues are temporary. Once Iowa gives up its standing as the first test of presidential strength in the nation, that’s gone forever.

Along those lines, Republican Party of Iowa Chairman Jeff Kaufmann also deserves kudos for announcing the Iowa GOP will hold a presidential straw poll as usual at its 2020 caucuses. State Republican parties in four other states, including the early states of South Carolina and Nevada, are expected to cancel primaries and caucuses to ease President Trump’s re-election bid. Good for Kaufmann for choosing democracy over any particular candidate.

A longtime Iowa caucus advocate mentioned to me recently that people often ask him if our state will lose its first-in-the-nation status. “They won’t take it away from us,” he said. “But we may give it away.”

If we do that, Iowa, we will be giving away one of the last and best opportunities for ordinary people to change the course of our democracy. Why would we do that to the next generation of voters?