What went wrong with the Iowa caucuses?

CEDAR RAPIDS — Planning for the Iowa caucuses can be like preparing for a winter storm not knowing whether it will be ice or snow or how much to expect.

'It's like inviting 150,000 of your family and friends to a party without RSVPs,' former Iowa Democratic Party Chairwoman Sue Dvorsky said.

The first-in-the-nation caucuses are, by their nature, prone to chaos, according to people who have had a hand in planning and executing the once-every-four-years party functions.

Think of the challenges of hosting a party 'and now multiply that by 1,700 events simultaneously statewide — all run by volunteers — and under the scrutiny of the national media,' said Norm Sterzenbach, the IDP's caucus director in 2008.

The 2016 caucuses this past Monday were no exception.

Lena Gilbert, 57, a real estate agent from Springville, arrived at her Democratic caucus at Springville High School early because she had never caucused and wanted some direction.

'There were no written instructions or complete verbal instructions to attendees,' she recalled.

When the event started, she gathered with others who supported her chosen candidate — but the group didn't know if they were allowed to communicate with people in other camps. The number of people who signed in didn't match the number of those who counted off during the event, Gilbert added.

'It doesn't seem like a process that was exact or accurate,' she said.

Her expectations are not unusual, but probably not realistic, said Steffen Schmidt, Iowa State University political science professor.

'We want (the caucuses) to function like a finely tuned machine — they were never meant to do that,' he said. 'The people who are running it — they're not professionals. They're volunteers, and sometimes you have to pull teeth and beg people to do it.

'To expect it to be this finely tuned, sophisticated machine is unrealistic, but I guess that's where we are now.'

'People are busier'

It seems everyone who caucused Feb. 1 has a story about long lines, venues that were too small, confusion about locations with multiple precincts and volunteers who were inadequately trained or unprepared for the turnout.

It's not for a lack of effort or planning, according to Sterzenbach and Matt Strawn, who was Republican Party of Iowa chairman in 2012. The state parties typically begin preparations at least a year in advance.

Although many of the precinct chairs are old hands, Strawn, now part of Next Generation Public Affairs, said considerable time is spent recruiting volunteers to set up and run each precinct caucus. A small paid staff relies on county party leaders to identify and 'peer recruit' volunteers.

It's not easy, said Sterzenbach, now a principal at GPS Impact, a strategic planning firm in Des Moines, because serving as a precinct chair 'is not as sexy as being a precinct captain for a campaign and get to meet the candidate and have your picture taken with them.'

Also, he said, it's not as simple as pulling up the list of volunteers from the previous caucus. It's at least four years old, and if a party doesn't have a contested caucus, the list can be eight years old.

Finding volunteers to run the caucuses has become more difficult 'because people are busier, they are less connected to the local party,' Sterzenbach noted.

'This takes time, and people have jobs and families and others to take care of,' said Catherine Crist, a 53-year-old Cedar Rapids resident and precinct captain at Cedar Rapids Washington High School auditorium where more than 400 Democrats completed the presidential nomination part of the caucus in about an hour. 'I have great respect for the fact that people come here to show their enthusiasm and commitment to this wonderful democratic process.'

First-time caucusgoer Gilbert wishes every caucus ran so smoothly and in an email to the Iowa Democratic Party offered her help if the party decides to revamp the process.

'It's very sad because in Iowa we have this grand opportunity to draw all this attention, yet at the ground level the administration of these events is very poorly operated,' she said.

That's despite hundreds of training sessions — including online training and conference calls — by the state Democratic and Republicans parties. However, Sterzenbach said the biggest challenge for precinct chairs may be the hardest thing to train for — how to handle a crowd, how to organize a precinct with 500 people when less than half that number was expected, how to get them to stand in the right place and to be counted properly.

That was the case in for Doug Dorando, a veteran precinct captain from Iowa City, who reported that nearly two-thirds of the 646 people who turned out to caucus at the Iowa City Public Library were not registered or wanted to switch party affiliation.

'It slowed down the process a little bit,' he said.

Because there were so many people, Dorando had to move Hillary Clinton supporters and undecided caucusgoers to another room — which made some Bernie Sanders supporters think they were losing their opportunity to sway other camps.

'It sucks because we weren't able to stop Hillary Clinton from getting her delegate,' said Mary Marturello, 21, of Iowa City.

But Dorando said he worked with candidate precinct captains to make sure rules were followed, despite the separation of the groups.

'The Bernie caucus chair singled out 30 volunteers to have those negotiations with the Hillary Clinton supporters and undecideds,' Dorando said.

Jeff Cox, a Sanders's precinct captain, agreed with Dorando.

'I have been going to presidential caucuses since 1980, but things have gotten out of hand because of the numbers,' said Cox, a University of Iowa history professor. 'Doug certainly did his best, he really did, but no one can call this grass-roots democracy, or even democracy, since participants can't be sure their preferences are counted properly.'

It's not easy

Given a turnout of about 171,000 Democrats and more than 180,000 Republicans, space was at a premium — particularly in Johnson County, where UI students turned out in droves.

The Johnson County Democrats requested meeting rooms at the University of Iowa, Iowa City Community School District, community buildings, churches and other facilities — but because of the large groups expected, the party did not get permission in some cases, said John Deeth, data management director. Large meetings rooms at West High School that were used in the past were unavailable because of school events.

Not being able to use West High pushed the Democrats to Borlaug Elementary, which some Iowa City residents complained was discriminatory because the school isn't easily accessible by bus, Deeth said.

'I understand the schools belong to the school district, but they also belong to the public,' he said.

Deeth and Dorando said they think the Democrats did remarkably well considering the unexpected flood of UI students, who haven't been on campus for previous caucuses. Dorando had advice for people running a caucus for the first time: 'It's not as easy as they tell you it is.'

Sterzenbach agreed, and said the parties may want to add crowd management to the training syllabus for precinct volunteers.

Lost in the crush of excitement about the presidential nomination contest is the fact caucuses essentially are a party organizing and building activity, said Brendan Summers, who worked with Sterzenbach on the 2008 caucuses.

The parties have caucuses every even-numbered year 'to bring people into the party,' said Summers, who this year was on Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders's Iowa campaign staff. 'But when they take place in presidential election years, the focus changes. You lose some of the party-building.'

Dvorsky acknowledged the bifurcated focus in presidential elections years, but noted that's part of the ever-changing caucus landscape, including the impact of social media this year.

'Imagine what 2008 would have been like if everyone had a smartphone and Twitter,' she said of the record-breaking 240,000 turnout that year. 'Next time, if there is a next time, there will be utterly different conditions.'

Despite the challenges inherent in successfully recruiting and training volunteers to oversee 3,362 meetings in nearly as many locations, she remains confident in the parties and the Iowans who pull it off.

'It's the reason the party exists every four years,' Dvorsky said.

Gazette reporter Diana Nollen contributed to this story.