Iowa Democrats say the state party is disappointed with the Democratic National Committee’s decision to reject its “virtual caucus” proposal meant to include more people in the nation’s first nominating contest, casting doubt about rules used for the February 2020 event.
The Iowa Caucuses have long faced criticism that they’re exclusionary and somewhat undemocratic, since voters must show up in person to an election event and publicly proclaim their candidate preference. That departs secret ballots used in practically every other American election, and likely leaves out broad swaths of voters who can’t make it to the evening events because they are working, at a child’s event, out of town or any number of other reasons.
So, the state Democratic party this year planned virtual caucuses to allow participation of people remotely in the Feb. 3 caucuses. The DNC, however, has scuttled that idea, citing concerns over hacking and other computer security issues.
The state party effectively conceded defeat Friday.
“We are obviously disappointed by this outcome,” Iowa Democratic Party Chair Troy Price said in a statement. “But if the DNC does not believe the virtual caucus can be secure, then we cannot go forward.”
But it’s the latest source of tension between rank-and-file Democrats and the national party. Several Democratic presidential candidates are mad at the DNC over its rules for inclusion in primary debates, based on increasingly-stringent requirements for polling support and a diversity of donors.
At a recent DNC meeting in San Francisco, Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado, a 2020 Democrat who did not make the cut for the next debate, in Houston on Sept. 12, railed against the national party.
Bennet said the DNC is rewarding “celebrity candidates, with millions of Twitter followers, billionaires who buy their way onto the debate stage, and candidates who have been running for president for years.”
The DNC is trying to downplay the Iowa virtual caucus flap, which affects another state that planned to use the remote voting system, Nevada, on Feb. 22.
“We concur with the advice of the DNC’s security experts that there is no tele-caucus system available that meets our standard of security and reliability given the scale needed for the Iowa and Nevada caucuses and the current cyber-security climate,” DNC Chair Tom Perez said in a statement.
