Disenfranchisement

The Times notes that the Iowa caucuses disenfranchise night workers by not requiring employers to give them time off to vote. But guess what? So does the South Huntington school district. Budget votes are held in late afternoon to evening; good luck if you work nights.

Got a Night Job? Then No Caucus for You
DES MOINES — Jason Huffman has lived in Iowa his whole life. Lately he has been watching presidential debates on the Internet, discussing what he sees with friends and relatives. But when fellow Iowans choose their presidential nominees Thursday night, he will not be able to vote, because he is serving with the Iowa National Guard in western Afghanistan.“Shouldn’t we at least have as much influence in this as any other citizen?” Captain Huffman wrote in an e-mail message.

He is far from the only Iowan who will not be able to participate.

Because the caucuses, held in the early evening, do not allow absentee voting, they tend to leave out near-entire categories of voters: the infirm, soldiers on active duty, restaurant employees on the dinner shift, medical personnel who cannot leave their patients, parents who do not have babysitting, and many others who work in retail, at gas stations and in other jobs that require evening duty.

As in years past, voters must present themselves in person, at a specific hour, and stay for as long as two. And if this caucus is anything like previous ones, only a tiny percentage of Iowans will participate. In 2000, the last year in which both parties held caucuses, 59,000 Democrats and 87,000 Republicans voted, out of a state with 2.9 million people. In the 2004, 124,000 people turned out for the Democratic caucuses.

The rules are so demanding that even Ray Hoffman, the chair of the Iowa State Republican Party and a resident of Sioux City, cannot caucus on Thursday night, because he has to be in Des Moines on party business.

Iowans begin the presidential nomination process, making choices that can heavily influence how the race unfolds. Now some are starting to ask why the first, crucial step in the presidential nominating process is also one that discourages so many people, especially working-class ones, from participating.

“It disenfranchises certain voters or makes them make choices between putting food on the table and caucusing,” said Tom Lindsey, a high school teacher in Iowa City. He plans to attend this year, but his neighbors include a cook who cannot slip away from his restaurant job on Thursday night and a mother who must care for her autistic child.