Some Iowans Who Are Away From Home Hold Caucuses In Chicago
CHICAGO (CBS) -- For the first time this Monday, Iowa voters caucused in locations outside the state – including two in Chicago.
As CBS 2's Charlie De Mar reported, it was a first-of-its-kind opportunity for Iowans to be part of the democratic process without being physically in the state.
Twenty-four Iowans participated in the caucus Monday night at the University Church of Chicago, at 5665 S. University Ave. in Hyde Park – just north of the University of Chicago main quadrangle.
Some of the participants were students.
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Representatives from the Democratic presidential candidates' campaigns started the night off trying to strum up support for their candidates. Then it was time to decide
It looked like a big game of musical chairs, but it resulted in Elizabeth Warren getting the bulk of participants with 11. Bernie sanders nine and Pete Buttigieg had four. All of those candidates were considered viable in that particular caucus because they had at least 15 percent of the vote.
"It's so great because today, I didn't have to take off work early to drive back to Iowa and vote," said caucus participant Brenna Wolfe. "I got to come home at my normal time, come here, and get to voice my opinion."
"I'm really glad that they're happening, just because like, personally, I wouldn't be able to drive home to Iowa, and I know a lot of other students who wouldn't be able to drive home to Iowa," said caucus chair Hannah Gregor, "and so I think it's really exciting to like, be on the cusp of it, and starting this new process and to see what happens tonight."
The outcome of each out-satellite caucus will be grouped together, creating a single "county," as it were.
The Humboldt Park Branch Chicago Public Library, 1605 N. Troy St., also served as a satellite voting location.
There are also satellite locations elsewhere around the country. Among them are sites in Tucson and two other Arizona communities; Palm Springs and Stanford, California; Washington, D.C.; four municipalities in Florida including St. Petersburg; Cambridge, Massachusetts; Ann Arbor, Michigan; Northfield and St. Paul, Minnesota; a library in Crown Heights, Brooklyn and an LGBT community center in Greenwich Village in New York City; and Penn University in Philadelphia.
Roughly 1,300 Iowans are expected to use one of the satellite locations that are set up across the country – and there are even three international sites – at a dormitory in Paris, and at people's homes in Scotland and the Republic of Georgia.