| Has America Outgrown the Caucus? Some Thoughts on Reshaping the Nomination Contest
Wang, Tova Andrea
Century Foundation, TCF Issue Brief, October 22, 2007, online edition
Pointing to the Iowa caucus, the author argues that “[c]aucuses, as opposed to primaries, by their very structure violate fundamental principles of voting rights. Their time-consuming, inflexible, Byzantine procedures discourage broad participation, presenting substantial barriers to the right to vote. It is not that the caucuses violate the Constitution—they are run by the parties, not the states, and do not violate voting rights as a matter of law. Rather, because of their exclusionary nature, they go against some of the core values we express when we talk about voting rights, such as the fundamental nature of the right, equality of opportunity to participate in the process, and fair access to the ballot.” Tova Andrea Wang is a democracy fellow at the Century Foundation.
Go to the report at:
http://www.tcf.org/publications/electionreform/caucusbrief.pdf
C13/07-07. Posted January 10, 2008
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