GOP panel hears suggestions for less complex caucuses

CEDAR RAPIDS - A committee reviewing the Iowa Republican precinct caucus process Wednesday night heard sometimes conflicting recommendations for improving ballot security and perhaps delivering certified straw poll results on caucus night.

The Republican Party of Iowa committee also was asked to think about whether Iowa should continue efforts to maintain its coveted first-in-the-nation status.

“Are the caucuses about putting on a show for the country or organizing the Republican Party of Iowa?” Bill Dahlsten of Cedar Rapids asked the Iowa Caucus Review Committee, which met at Kirkwood Community College.

The caucuses are run by volunteers who put in hundreds of hours organizing and conducting the neighborhood gatherings where Iowa Republicans give their first official indications of presidential candidate support, he said.

Given that strain, “I'm beginning to wonder if it's worth it,” Dahlsten said.

The party-directed review was set in motion after the 2012 caucus, where initial reports that Mitt Romney had won the straw poll by eight votes were reversed two weeks later after the certified results showed Rick Santorum winning by 34 votes.

“We allowed the news media to make us look stupid” because of the complexity of the process, said former Linn County GOP Chairman Jim Conklin of Marion. “We need to make this simple.”

But review committee member Wes Enos of Polk County argued that the presidential caucuses and party-building are “irrevocably linked.”

Turnout at off-year caucuses is very low “and there isn't much party-building that goes on,” he said, so the first-in-the-nation precinct caucuses are “a tremendous opportunity to build our party.”

Subcommittees reported several recommendations to the overall panel.

• The Training Committee recommended that the party make greater use of technology - webinars and YouTube videos, for example - to offer more training at more locations.

• The Operations and Tabulation Subcommittee recommended same-day certification of the results - that is, the outcome would be officially announced the night of the caucuses.

• However, the Public Information Subcommittee recommended that if the margin between the top two presidential candidates is less than 1 percent, none should be declared on caucus night. Rather, “uncertified” results could be released at that point.

• And the Operations Subcommittee suggested that ballots be distributed at the time people register at the caucuses, each participant should place the ballot in a ballot box, and those ballots should be counted in the main caucus room.

State party Co-Chairman Bill Schickel of Mason City reminded the 20-some people who attended that the recommendations are just that.

“They are subject to change - significant change,” he said.

The committee will meet again June 25 in Sioux City.