I’ve voted before. But that prior experience did not prepare me for my experience as a participant in the Iowa Democratic Caucus on Tuesday, Jan. 19.
Coming from Wisconsin, which holds a primary rather than a caucus, I didn’t understand the process. Voting is a fundamental right in America and I wanted to participate, but wasn’t sure what that would involve. So I prepared myself by reading about the origins of caucuses and about the particular candidates in this caucus.
When the night arrived, I was quite excited to participate in what was not only my first caucus but the first for the 2004 election.
Seeing lots of young people gathered together to show their support for their candidates was thrilling and added to the feeling that we were part of a large and important event.
I was glad to see so many people instilled with the value of voting. It made the process more fun, because everyone wanted to discuss his or her views and at the same time nobody wanted to fight about them.
For me, supporting the process and my candidate felt very important. The election process is how we speak out, and every opportunity I’m given to speak out, I will.
But also, I felt compelled to show that as a college student, I stand for something. Too often, young peoples’ opinions are overlooked. I feel this happens for two reasons. First, candidates don’t think we care, which is a direct reflection of the second reason: Not enough young people let their feelings be known.
Participating in the caucus remolded my perspective on the political process. It was messy and chaotic. While I loved the feeling of standing up and having my vote counted, I felt it wasn’t quite heard there.
A couple days after the caucus I was reading “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” by Lewis Carroll for one of my classes and, believe me, the book is not at all like the Disney movie.
The second chapter is titled “A Caucus-Race and a Long Tale.” I came across a passage that described the caucus process exactly: “First it marked out a race-course, in a sort of circle … they begun running when they liked, and left off when they liked, so that it was not easy to know when the race was over” (p.92).
Voting will continue to be important to me. I don’t want to live under laws that I had no say in creating. Although I’m not naive enough to think that I can make a huge difference, I do think that my vote can count even if it is just to show others that one can stand up and stand for something.
The caucus was a great way to get involved both on campus and in politics. I entered into a wild goose chase and came out dizzy but with a sense of right and accomplishment.
Michelle Kaplan is a freshman at University of Iowa.
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