Abolish the Iowa caucuses now

To the editor:

The Iowa caucuses are an unsalvageable mess.

It is nonsensical for any state to be handling a presidential nomination this way in 2016, much less the first vote in the country, when such national importance is placed on the outcome.

The Democratic caucus is especially problematic, with its awkward reliance on headcounts by volunteers, its unjustified elimination of candidates based on viability rules, and its use of coin tosses to resolve ties, among other things. This issue has become even more pressing for me after witnessing some colossal quagmires on Monday night, both in-person and through media outlets.

The Democratic Party has failed to address the needs of voters who can't make a caucus at 7 p.m. on a Monday night, whether because of work, school, children, etc. It is inexcusable that people should lose the chance to vote because they can't block out a predetermined segment of their life. If the Democratic Party is going to truly fight for the working class, as they claim to do, then they must address this. As antiquated and out-of-touch as this process is, there is a simple solution: abolish the caucus and replace it with a primary. Its uniqueness or the stranglehold of 'tradition” isn't enough to make up for the repeated issues we will have with a voting event led by parties rather than government officials. There is no reason to unleash this debacle on the country again. Let's fix it now.

Alex Doser

President, ISU College Democrats

Mechanicsville