Minnesotans Prepare for March Primaries Following Caucus Chaos In Iowa
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) - Iowa's caucus meltdown has many in Minnesota looking forward to our first presidential primary on March 3. The pride of being the nation's first to use new software quickly melted into mass confusion and embarrassment.
"You introduce a new software, you introduce a new app but you don't test it, that's exactly what happened," David Schultz, a political science professor at Hamline, said.
The 2016 Minnesota presidential caucuses were plagued by too many participants trying to cram into too small of spaces, and with too little time to do it, Schultz recalls.
"Trying to have several hundred thousand people show up at the same places in a short period of time, we had stories of what? Traffic jams and people not being able to find parking spots, all types of complaints," Schultz said.
State lawmakers have ditched the caucus system in favor of a March 3 statewide primary. Caucuses will still take place Feb. 25, but only to conduct party business, like developing nominating convention platforms.
"I just want to reassure Minnesotans there is so much that differentiates us from Iowa," Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon said.
According to Simon, Minnesota's upcoming primary should be viewed much like a general election, but with one major exception.
"A voter going in on March 3, or beforehand if voting absentee, will have to tell someone that they want either democratic party or republican party ballot," Simon said.
Despite this, your actual vote remains secret. The votes are then tallied by each of the 87 counties and transmitted to the secretary of state's office.
"No we do not use an app, I have no plans to do an app, I think there's a consensus here that we're not going to do an app," Simon said.
Iowa's problems with the caucus reporting was largely blamed on a coding error. Still, it remains one of the only seven states holding onto the caucus system.
"It may be good in theory, but in the practicality of 2020, it's probably dated," Simon said.
This is evidenced by the national nightmare now questioning the caucus validity and future.