Caucus+versus+Election

Bella Farkas  February 2, 2016   Caucus versus Primary   Mod 3


 * What is a Caucus? **

A caucus is where members of a political party meet in person at a certain time and location to discuss candidates. The voting for candidates happens by either raising hands or separating into groups with votes counted manually by counting the number of hands or supporters of each candidate. The caucus system favors candidates who have organized volunteers who can sway undecided votes. In America, the caucus system was the original way that parties chose candidates. The states with a caucus system are; Alaska, Iowa, Colorado, Hawaii, Kansas, Minnesota, Maine, Nevada, Wyoming, and North Dakota.




 * What is a Primary system? **

A primary system is like a regular election in that everyone casts a secret ballot that is then read by a machine. All states, excluding the ones mentioned above, have a primary system. Within in the over aching primary system, there are subcategories, some that allow unaffiliated voters to vote and some that don’t.




 * What is the difference between them? **

The voting method is the main difference between the two systems, in the caucus, the voting is by a public show of support, while in the primary, voting is done in private through secret ballot. The other main difference is who can vote. In the caucus, only members registered with a particular party can vote in that party’s caucus, whereas in a primary, depending on the state, it is open to all registered voters no matter their affiliation.

On top of there being big differences between a caucus and a primary system, there is one main differences between a Republican and Democratic caucus. In a Democratic caucus, cases can be made by the voters for their respective parties in an attempt to sway undecided voters to their side. While in a Republican caucus, voters show up to a caucus meeting, but privately select their candidate.

The link below shows how a caucus works as explained by gummy bears:

[|Click Here]