High turnout, international media expected at local caucus sites Monday – Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier

At 7 p.m. Monday, voters registered with either the Republican or Democratic parties will file into their respective precinct caucus locations, nominate caucus chairs, quibble about party business and, finally, cast a vote for their preferred candidate for their party’s nomination as president of the United States.

While the Republicans will do it in one straw-poll vote, Democrats will haggle over viability — candidates must reach a threshold of support at each precinct. For  those who don’t, backers have to pick their second-choice candidate.

Black Hawk County Democrats are expecting up to 50% more caucus participation than in 2016, based on new voter registration and an energized base, and have added locations in preparation.

“This is crazy times, I tell you,” said Vikki Brown, chairwoman of the Black Hawk County Democrats. “There is so much more interest this year.”

She was talking not only about turnout, but media interest: National outlets like NBC and CBS are planning to send reporters and camera crews to precincts in the county, as well as international media from Sweden and Japan.

“We’re getting people starting to call, to ask more questions, to get more engaged,” she said.

Precincts expected to be particularly busy include Cedar Falls Ward 1, Precinct 2, where the party is projecting more than 400 attendees, and Cedar Falls Ward 1, Precinct 3, where it expects around 558 people compared with 372 in 2016. Both of those precincts caucus at Lincoln Elementary School.

Cedar Falls Ward 4, Precinct 3, at the University of Northern Iowa’s West Gym, also is expected to be hopping.

“There is so much more interest this year,” Brown said. “We’ve even had some people actually change party affiliations — that’s way up too.”

LeaAnn Saul, chairwoman of the Republicans of Black Hawk County, said despite an incumbent in President Donald Trump, she’s expecting an increase in turnout to the tune of 20% across the board. That should make precincts a bit busier.

“Typically, the townships like Dunkerton, Hudson, they’re pretty (busy), but Peet Junior High (in Cedar Falls) and Hoover (Middle School in Waterloo) are usually the biggest ones,” she said.

The increased turnout will be mostly due to new voters, Saul said, but the party also is making sure its doing outreach to longtime voters as well.

“We’ve been doing voter registrations. We’ve been doing massive phone calling to our base and to new voters,” she said. “We have a list of newly registered voters, and we’ve been reaching out to them.”

A building site coordinator at each location will report the straw vote totals to the state party via a phone app. If there are issues with the technology, they’ll phone in the results instead, Saul said.

Not everyone on the Democratic side has a first choice among 11 remaining candidates at this point: Plenty of undecided voters could be found at campaign events across Northeast Iowa last week, checking out the candidates as they gave their final messages to convince voters.

“I just want somebody that will defeat (President) Donald Trump. I really oppose all his lies, rhetoric and divisiveness,” said Virgil Lasley of Tama in early January. “We’re all one country, and we all gotta live together.”

“In general, I would vote for a wet paper bag with a ‘D’ on it,” said Greg Blomberg, who, despite living in La Crosse, Wis., has been coming to see as many presidential candidates in Iowa as he can. “Iowa has such an awesome experience that I think so many people don’t take advantage of.”

Most Democratic voters had their choice at least narrowed down.

“I’m trying to decide between (U.S. Sen.) Amy (Klobuchar), Mayor Pete (Buttigieg) and (former Vice President) Joe (Biden),” said John Von Tersch of Cedar Falls, who considers himself a moderate. “The way I’m probably going to go, I’ll caucus for Amy, but I don’t think she’ll get to 15% (viability). My second choice is Pete, and then I’ll probably vote Joe in the general election.”

Peg Gannon of Cedar Falls said she had now narrowed her choice down to two: Andrew Yang and Klobuchar.

“Her experience — she’s articulate, well-informed,” she said. But Yang was “very intelligent” too: “He has some very interesting ideas, and — I think — very doable. I’m very impressed.”

Jerry Small of Waterloo had seen 11 candidates by last weekend, and was no closer to a decision. But he wasn’t anxious about it, noting he’d still head to the caucus.

“I’ll just decide at the last minute,” he said.

Plenty of Democratic voters have made up their minds, however.

On U.S. Rep. Bernie Sanders, 78, who has been a senator from Vermont since 2007:

“He’s been my top candidate for a minute,” said Krista Snow of Tama in early January, noting she particularly liked his stances on health care and corruption in government. “He’s talking about exactly what’s been in my heart since I was a little girl. He’s someone I really believe in.”

On former Vice President Joe Biden, 77, who was vice president under former President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2017:

“He’s very intelligent, very sincere,” said Pat Sheeley of Waterloo in late January, noting her big issues were health care and “the condition of how we’re perceived in the world today. That bothers me, and it’s going to get worse.”

On former Mayor Pete Buttigieg, 38, who was the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, from 2012 until his term was up in January:

“He’s one of the only veterans running for office, and he’s also a young man with a lot of drive,” said Dave Mueller of Quasqueton in late January.

On U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, 70, who has been a senator from Massachusetts since 2013:

“I think it’s the most important election in history,” said Regan Hage of Cedar Falls in early December. “The fact that she’s not receiving funds from insurance and pharmaceutical companies — you can tell she’s not just talking about corruption, she’s actually supporting anti-corruption.”

On U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, 59, who has been a senator from Minnesota since 2007:

“I started out with (U.S. Rep.) Kamala (Harris), and Amy is good or better,” said Kris Brimm of Cedar Falls in late January. “They’re gutsy, they stand up for stuff. … (Like) Mayor Pete (Buttigieg) says, you don’t want to alienate half of the country.”

On Andrew Yang, 45, who founded Venture for America, a nonprofit fellowship program that trains young people to work for startups in cities across the country:

“I think the Freedom Dividend would do a lot to really eradicate poverty across the country,” said Chris Gidley of Waterloo in mid-January.

On Tom Steyer, 62, a former hedge-fund manager who founded Farallon Capital in San Francisco in 1986 and created progressive advocacy nonprofit and political action committee NextGen America in 2013:

“I like him more (than the other candidates) — he’s straightforward,” said Mark Conklin of Waverly in early January. “I watched him down at the Iowa State Fair and he said (to a question), ‘Right now, I don’t know the full extent.’ When I think about other candidates, they’d just snowball it.”

President Donald Trump, 73, is running for re-election and, as he is the incumbent and backed by the national Republican Party, is widely expected to win the Republican nomination.

But Trump isn’t alone in seeking the nomination. Former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld, 74, who was the 68th governor of the state from 1991-1997, and former U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh, 58, who represented Illinois’ 8th district from 2011-2013 and is a conservative talk radio host, are both challenging Trump for the nomination.