Iowa Caucus in Disarray

Voters in Iowa took to the polls on Feb. 3 to pick a party winner, the first of many states to determine party nominees for the U.S. president. However, the Iowa Caucus quickly fell into disarray when Democratic party officials reported that the app that was used to send precinct vote tallies to state officials was malfunctioning.

Instructors, click the link below to download this week’s lecture for use in your classroom. The deck contains a writing prompt and a debate question as well as other assessment questions.

Download the PowerPoint Lecture Spark for Iowa Caucus in Disarray

Links

“Democrats Prove No One Has to Hack an Election to Create Chaos”
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/02/iowa-results-chaos/

“Iowa precinct chairs mailed results to party officials after app, phone calls failed”
https://nypost.com/2020/02/06/iowa-precinct-chairs-mailed-results-to-party-officials-after-app-phone-calls-failed/

“Iowa caucus: Map of precincts where the data appear to be irregular”
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/07/iowa-caucus-map-of-precincts-where-the-data-appear-to-be-irregular.html?fbclid=IwAR1WJKN09Ta0r9A19Zqw-k085b2gP-Uhxe2N_V-eUKrlBFrDB3hitkFMk5g

“Iowa Results Reported Wednesday Apparently ‘Riddled With Errors’”
https://www.dailywire.com/news/iowa-results-reported-wednesday-apparently-riddled-with-errors

“7 things the Iowa caucus taught us, may they rest in peace”
https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/481609-7-things-the-iowa-caucuses-taught-us-may-they-rest-in-peace

“Thank You, Iowa”
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/06/opinion/iowa-caucuses-democrats.html

“After fiasco, Iowa results matter less”
https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/05/opinions/pete-buttigieg-iowa-fiasco-obama-jimmy-carter-zelizer/index.html

“DNC Chairman Tom Perez is making the Iowa caucus disaster worse”
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/dnc-chairman-tom-perez-is-making-the-iowa-caucus-disaster-worse

Assessment

Writing: Briefly describe the primary election process. What is the purpose of hosting primaries before the general election in November? And what is the difference between a caucus and a primary election?
Debate: The uncertainty and confusion caused by the Democratic Iowa caucus will negatively impact voter trust in the integrity of the rest of the Democratic primary.
Poll: Can we trust the results of the Iowa caucus?
Short Answer: Historically, have early state primaries and caucuses been a good indicator of how candidates will perform in later primary contests?

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