MATH 1030 - Voting Project

Christina Boyd & Austin Lay & Ashlie Larsen.

The Iowa Caucuses

Part I: Research the Iowa Caucuses and explain how they work. Your response should be a
one-page (250-word) narrative. Be sure to include a brief history, how a caucus differs
from a typical primary election, and why the Iowa Caucuses play such an important
role in American presidential elections.

The Iowa Caucuses are electoral events were both members of democratic and
republican parties of the state of Iowa come together to then select delegates, who
will then be the one to vote for their parties nominee in the upcoming presidential
election. (Montanaro)

These are very important as it is considered one of the first major contests of the
presidential primary season, and these Caucuses are seen as a strong indicator in how
well or poorly a candidate might do in the later contests. (Montanaro)

This began in 1968, in which there was incredible rising violence amongst protestors
during the democratic convention, in which democrats had to take a step back and
take another look at their voting system to try and curb the tide of the uprising of
angry citizens. (Johnson)

And you might be wondering the differences of a caucus?

The caucus is one of the oldest methods of choosing delegates in the United States,
and well known to have started back in the English colonies before the American
Revolution ever took place!

A caucus is a local meeting where members of a city, town, or county come together
to try and decide on their preferred candidate. These get togethers are also used to
get other political business done, and to eventually elect nominees up in national
conventions to have a say in a presidential election. (Bailey)

And so then what are the primaries?

The primaries are state level elections instead of limited to small towns or counties.
These much larger elections within the states, thirty four states to be exact, have
several different ways of pulling a vote for their preferred candidates. This includes
both open and closed primaries, where participation for the voting process maybe
easy to access, or become limited to others depending on if they are members or not.
(Bailey)

So why are the Iowa caucuses so important if they are so small?

The people of Iowa are the people to get to vote first in the election. It’s a get up and
go election full of shouting and debating. If you are not there in person, you don’t get
a say in the candidate that gets nominated for your state.

It’s also well known that most presidential candidates that win Iowa usually win the
election in general. While this is not always the case, having Iowa behind your back
brings several benefits to the candidate. This includes mass media, and people who are
winning to help promote the people running for the presidency. (Prokop)

If one doesn’t do well here, the amounts of donations for their upcoming campaigns
are usually much less, and voters in other states are less likely to give you a second
 chance.

Not to mention, if you are not careful in this beginning of the long hard electoral run,
the media can tear a candidate down, and get them removed from the entire election
from the get go. (Prokop)

Montanaro D. How Exactly Do The Iowa Caucuses Work? [Online]. 2016.

https://www.npr.org/2016/01/30/464960979/how-do-the-iowa-caucuses-work.

Johnson H. 1968 Democratic Convention [Online]. Smithsonian.comSmithsonian

Institution: 2008. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/1968-democratic-
convention-931079/.

Bailey K. What Is the Difference between a Primary Election and a Caucus?

[Online]. dummies. http://www.dummies.com/education/politics-government/what-
is-the-difference-between-a-primary-election-and-a-caucus/.

Prokop A. Why the Iowa caucuses have such a massive impact on the presidential race
[Online]. VoxVox: 2016. https://www.vox.com/2016/1/25/10817088/iowa-caucus-
2016-poll-trump-sanders.

Part II: Imagine you live in Mason City, Iowa and attend a Republican caucus for Precinct
W1-P2 at the Highland Golf Course. The meeting organizers ask the voters to select
their preferences for four candidates. The following preference schedule
summarizes the results of the poll.

# Voters 19 6 36 39
 1st B R C T
2nd R B R R
3rd
C C B C
4th
T T T B
B is Jeb Bush, C is Ted Cruz, R is Marco Rubio, and T is Donald Trump

Use this preference schedule to answer the following questions about various voting

methods. Vocabulary words in bold are defined in the Voting Theory section in Math in Soci
Part III:

Let’s talk about the most recent election that has taken place in America, I think for

most people it was one that you will soon not forget. No matter the side you are on I

think it’s a safe bet to guess it was one of the wilder elections that have happened.

With all that being said lets take a look into the winner.

Donald Trump was the winner for our group. He won through the plurality method

which meant that the people like him the more than Hillary. There is a great reason

that he had the most first place votes. So, for the fairness method he should have the

best chance of winning. He won because he is what the people in our county wanted

he spoke to the needs of the middle called. He is someone who has hopes to “Make

America Great Again.”

The reason that people gave him first place votes was because of the way that he

conducted himself during his time in Iowa and then during the overall debates. He

may have been a little brass and even at times rude, but he spoke from a place that he

believed was right. He said the things that the people wanted to hear the most, as a

company and individually as Americans, and America feels that he will deliver the

things that he has announced. The other thing that helped America decide on voting

for Presidential Candidate Trump is the fact that he comes from a business

background and he will know how to create many jobs and reestablish the American

economy. The people felt that him, coming from a non-political background, while

having its downfalls, in this particular situation is a very useful tool. He has had many

successful and unsuccessful businesses. He knows what does and what won’t work for

the people. He will also figure out a spending and money generation that will balance

out and start peeling away at some of the debt that our country has.

these are some of the reasons that have helped Donald Trump become president and

as our main winner in the plurality method. We think that these reasons will indeed

give him the amount of first place votes that he will need.