Take a look inside an Iowa caucus

DES MOINES, Iowa. (KCTV) - The Iowa GOP caucuses went quickly, with most caucus sites tabulating results less than an hour after the caucuses began.

In a rare move, Missouri Republicans will also be caucusing to cast their vote for the next presidential nominee.

KCTV5 witnessed a caucus in Des Moines that took place at Roosevelt High School.

The doors opened at 6 p.m. to allow people to start g in before the caucus itself began at 7 p.m.

Like a primary, there are many locations. They are assigned by precinct. Unlike a primary, you can’t vote at the time most convenient for you during the day. You have to be there at a set time.

The g in and ing at Roosevelt High School’s auditorium put the start of the caucus a good 20 minutes later than usual because there were so many people in line.

The auditorium served as the site for three precincts, divided by aisle. Und voters and ed Democrats in the designated precincts also have an opportunity to as Republicans on the spot so they can participate as well.

They closed the doors to the room at about 7:20 p.m. then allowed ers for each candidate to give remarks to persuade people to pick a specific candidate. They set a time limit in advance of five minutes for each candidate.

Then came the voting. Designated precinct volunteers handed out ballots, which were small slips of paper. The ballot is empty. You write any name you want.

Tim Laehn laughed when we asked how he’d compare it to a primary, because, as a lifelong Iowan, he’s never been to a primary.

“I the first time I did it. We like wrote our vote on a slip of paper and like handed it to the middle aisle. And I was kind of like, ‘Are we electing a President right now? Like, this seems so informal,’” Laehn said. “I think it’s kind of cool. Because we got here, we ran into our neighbors and it’s just kind of like a community event.”

He and his family were busily chatting with the people in the row ahead, said neighbors who didn’t come with them, but were just there. They shot the breeze while waiting for the caucus to begin.

“It’s a lot of fun,” said Kelly Barnum. “You get to see all your neighbors because you’re in the same precinct. Everybody gets to talk. People I haven’t seen in forever.”

Missouri’s GOP is expected to use a different caucus format, more like what the Iowa Democrats use when they caucus. In that format, people stand in separate groups for a hand count, then get persuaded to a different group if their candidate doesn’t reach 15% of the total. There is no ballot.

Shelley Velman has done both and says the Democrat-style process is more spirited and takes longer.

“It’s fun, but it takes a long time. You do get to know your neighbors a lot better than you ever thought,” Velman remarked. “And it’s truly politics, that’s for sure, convincing everyone to come to your side, grassroots politics.”

The cost of running a caucus is paid for by the political parties, not the state. That’s another reason some states prefer them.

The move in Missouri came when the state legislature chose not to be involved in a presidential primary with state primary happening just a month later.

Iowa Democrats decided to have mail-in voting this year. They caucused but only to conduct party business like nominating and voting on convention delegates.

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