THE REGIONAL PRIMARY SYSTEM: WHAT THE SYSTEM IS AND WHY DEMOCRATS NEED TO ADOPT IT

The 2020 Iowa Caucus was a true debacle. Despite assurances that the brand new smart phone app would be able to handle the rigors of the Caucus, it appears that the app experienced severe difficulties. We also do not know whether human error played a factor as there are still few concrete answers from the Iowa Democratic Party as to what caused the issue. As of 2:00 PM Central time on Tuesday, February 4th, there have been no results released to the public or to any campaigns. Some campaigns, such as Bernie Sanders, have released internal polls to the public, but official results from the Iowa Democratic Party have remained elusive.

Moving forward there need to be changes made to the Democrat’s nominating process. Democrats need one uniform Primary system that not only eliminates Caucuses, but also removes Iowa’s first in nation status. The 2020 Iowa Caucus has made clear that the Democrat’s current Caucus/Primary System is in disrepair and needs to be fixed.

Iowa has highlighted how patently unfair and damaging the current system is for the Democrats. Entire candidacies are almost entirely dependent on performing highly in Iowa and the entire 2020 has ground to a halt because of the incompetence of Iowa Democratic officials. The nominating process is also dependent on a single state, in Iowa, that hardly represents the demographics of the Democratic Party. The use of a Caucus in Iowa is also problematic. Caucuses are only used by three states and four U.S Territories. They simply are not representative of a massive segment of the Democratic electorate which live in states that utilize a primary system.

The solution to this damaging system and lack of uniformity is to split the United States into a Regional System. This Regional System would contain five voting regions with ten states each. For five weeks, beginning on the first Tuesday of February, one region and only one region would hold all of their primaries on the same date. One week later, on the second Tuesday of February, a second region will hold all of their Primary elections. This pattern would continue each successive week until all five regions have cast their votes. The regions would be divided as follows:

West Region:                      

Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington and Utah.

Midwest Region:                  

Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Missouri.

Great Plaines Region:          

Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota,     Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas and Wyoming.

Northeast Region:                

Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland (Plus D.C), Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont.

South Region:                       

Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.

To ensure that no one state, or region holds an out-sized influence on the primary process, like Iowa and New Hampshire currently do, the order of who votes first will rotate. Every four years, regardless of the party in power, the order of the regions will change. If the Midwest Region votes first in 2024, then in 2028 they will vote on the fifth and final week. The regions that voted 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th, in 2024, will move up to 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th respectively in 2028. States will also have the choice to hold any local elections on the same date as the regional primary or to have the vote on a separate date.

Each geographic region will generally share similar voting patterns and common characteristics. This will allow candidates to make pitches towards each region instead of focusing on one individual state. Gone will be the days of candidates descending the same 3 or 4 states to make their pitches. Candidates will be encouraged to campaign in every state and build up vital resources in each region.

While the Regional System would cause candidates to spend more money in the primaries, it would also allow them to set up field offices and voter contacts in a greater number of states for the general election. Campaign infrastructure for the Democrats will benefit by consistently having to seek out new voters, state party chairs and volunteers in different regions each cycle. The Regional System will also ensure that if one state bungles their reporting of results, like Iowa did, that it would not hold up the entire Primary. Instead of one state alone reporting their results, candidates and voters will be able to utilize the results provided by the nine other state primaries that would take place that day. By eliminating Caucuses altogether, the Democratic Party will also ensure uniformity and that there is a true one person/one vote system in play.

Every four years, Presidential candidates make their traditional pilgrimage to Iowa for the first in the nation caucus. Candidates from each party partake in downing corn dogs at the Iowa State Fair, enduring endless townhalls and even soullessly rooting against their alma mater in an Iowa vs. Stanford football game. Iowa, which is only the 31st largest state in the country, sees hundreds of political events each Presidential cycle. The State receives outsized coverage and promises from candidates and even has the famous "Political Soapbox" for candidates. In New Hampshire, it is a similar story with candidates consistently filling up New Hampshire’s famous diner scene.

Instead of always making pitches to the same voters in each Presidential cycle, The Regional System will give candidates the ability to interact with new voters each election cycle. Candidates certainly would like to campaign in a variety of states, but the current system only allows them to campaign in states such as Iowa and New Hampshire. Large states, who hold later primaries, such as California and Pennsylvania, are generally irrelevant in choosing the nominees for President. The importance of these states is greatly lessened and makes campaigning there largely obsolete. Issues facing later voting states are completely ignored at the expense of early voting states.

Iowa and New Hampshire are also not representative of the Democratic electorate as a whole. The Democratic electorate is 63.2% white, 20.4% African American and 8.9% Hispanic. Iowa meanwhile is 90.7% white and only 4.0% black. New Hampshire is also 93.03% white and 1.53% African American. Iowa and New Hampshire, respectively, are ranked only the 42nd and 34th most representative of the Democratic electorate. A rotating Regional System would ensure that different voter bases of the Democratic Party would be able to exert more influence in the nominating process.

Iowa and New Hampshire carry a total of 4.5 million citizens. This small slice of voters effectively eliminates the majority of candidates running for President despite their small stature. A Regional System will no longer allow for the same two states to shape the Democratic nominating process in every cycle.

In the case of the 2020 Iowa Caucus, every 2020 contender is currently being held hostage while waiting for the results. Some candidates such as Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders have claimed victory, while others such as Joe Biden have simply said “It’s On to New Hampshire!” Regardless of who the actual winner is, the Iowa Caucus’ failures have essentially invalidated the results in the first-in-the-nation Caucus. Bernie Sanders, who seemed poised for victory in Iowa, will be robbed of what could have been critical momentum for his campaign. Joe Biden, whom I predicted would face major headwinds in Iowa, will also get a massive break as it appears he was headed for a bad night at the Caucus.

Ultimately, the 2020 Iowa Caucus has shown that there are significant flaws in the Democrat’s current nominating system. The Regional System should be adopted because it prevents the current handful of small states from having too much power in the nominating process. A Regional System would create uniformity in the nominating process and allow for a greater number of states to exert influence in selecting the Democratic nominee. Most importantly, creating a Regional System would prevent future debacles, like what happened in Iowa, from ever happening again.