Here’s another powerful reason the Iowa caucuses have to go. The New York Times reports that, despite claims from the Iowa Democratic Party that it is making caucuses more accessible to people with disabilities, the reality is that many people with disabilities will be shut out of voting.
One woman with multiple sclerosis contacted her county Democratic Party in September to request accommodations that would allow her to caucus. She didn’t hear anything until late January, at which point she got an email telling her “that she should arrive two hours early to secure one of ‘a limited number’ of seats—and that she could skip the line only if she had preregistered by a deadline three days past.”
This year, Iowa will have satellite caucuses that start early and have some accommodations for people with disabilities and people with children. They will improve the situation somewhat, but there’s still no remote or absentee voting option in Iowa—as other caucus states have had in the past. And to attend a satellite caucus, you have to know one exists to begin with, or have organized one yourself. “I’m doing this all because I have chronic pain and fatigue, so the idea that I now have to take on all this extra effort is just really absurd to me,” one activist who organized a satellite caucus told the Times. “It tells me that I’m expected to earn my place, and that the average caucusgoer is welcome, but people who might struggle to physically attend are going to have to really show they want it.”
Forcing people to line up for hours and then spend hours in a crowded room for their votes to be counted is undemocratic, putting voting out of reach for so many people who don’t have the time, the physical capacity, the work schedule, the child care to be able to do it. This system should not be of so much importance in choosing our presidential nominees.