Iowa Caucus 2016 Voter: 'Regular, Grand Old' Tradition

DES MOINES, IA – For first-time caucus-goer Niki Brown, 33, the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses were all she hoped they’d be with one exception: Her candidate, Bernie Sanders, fell short after winning the preliminary count under the Democrats’ complex rules.

Brown wasn’t sure what to expect when she and 458 other Democrats packed into a Roosevelt High School precinct in Des Moines.

“Just the turnout was amazing in itself,” Brown said. “I’d been looking forward to it all day.”

In the preliminary voting in that precinct, Sanders had a five-vote lead over Democrat Hillary Clinton, but uncommitted voters and those supporting former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley went to the Clinton camp. O’Malley suspended his campaign later Monday.

The final vote count in that precinct was 232 for Clinton and 227 for Sanders.

Here’s how the Democrats’ sometimes hours-long process works: After hearing pitches from candidates’ surrogates, caucus-goers cluster into preference groups. It’s in the counting of preference groups that the process gets complicated.

If a candidate doesn’t have the support of 15 percent of the participants in a specific preference group, they’re not considered viable. Various pundits and even late-night talk show host Stephen Colbert have described the viables’ scramble for the support of non-viable groups as a political version of the children’s playground game of “Red Rover, Red Rover.”

Brad Kalina, 35, also a voter at the Roosevelt caucus, said participants were given the chance of doing a straight straw poll, as Republicans do in their caucuses.

“We voted do just regular grand old traditional caucus like Iowans do,” said Kalina, a history teacher who caucused for the second time. His first Iowa Caucus was as a college student, but then he moved out of state.

He likes the way Democrats’ ran their campaigns.

“It was really nice,” Kalina said. “I felt that each side demonstrated the values of Democrats in general. I enjoyed how both candidates are not attacking one another, but are focused on the issues. It’s an enjoyable experience.”

West Des Moines resident Joy Wilhelm, a Hillary Clinton supporter, told Patch that her caucus site was a study in contrasts.

“The Bernie Sanders supporters really were angry and it spilled over into their speeches. The Hillary Rodham Clinton supporters never wavered. No one left camp and no one ever went negative. We just continued to count our votes and it continued to grow.”