The Register’s recent story by Tim Webber and Brianne Pfannenstiel highlighting Iowa Democrats’ massive voter registration deficit shows that party leaders have still not learned the lessons of past cycles. Party leaders point to registration efforts by county parties and out-of-state organizations as a solution to the concerning deficit.
This is a problem for a few reasons. First, the biggest driver of Democratic voter registration is competitive primaries. With a “closed” primary in Iowa, that means that voters have to register to vote as a Democrat if they want to participate in choosing the party’s nominee. By robbing Iowans of the ability to participate in an official, state-run primary, Democrats have lost the chance to bring in thousands of new voters.
Party leaders continue to advocate for a caucus process, which leads to significantly less turnout and more logistical problems than an auditor-run voting system. Primaries allow the ability for people to vote early, allow more time for voting, and allow for new registration conducted by trained professionals. Caucuses are at a specific time and place, which inherently leads to less turnout. In 2016, many locations ran out of voter registration forms. That mistake, combined with the fact that long lines and an inconvenient time on a weeknight in the cold led to people leaving, not being registered, or not showing up at all. A state-run primary would rectify this problem.
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The bigger problem, however, is that the Democratic Party has denied voters the opportunity to have a say in who the Democratic presidential nominee is in races all over the country. Why would someone want to register as a Democrat after seeing how the Democratic National Committee rigged the primary for Joe Biden in 2024? The party tried to “Weekend at Bernie’s” a presidential election and got caught red-handed when Biden’s cognitive decline was on full display on live television.
Not only were voters nationally denied the opportunity to participate in a process to pick the best candidate to take on Donald Trump, but in Iowa, the party didn’t even hold a primary or a caucus prior to that. The same DNC that rigged the calendar for Joe Biden has yet to release the “autopsy” of the 2024 election over a year after Donald Trump won, and we are supposed to trust they will fix the process for 2028?
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There continue to be examples of Democratic Party insiders picking nominees without voters’ approval. Whether it is a last-minute retirement that appoints a hand-picked successor, or party insiders picking a candidate for a special election, voters who would likely want to register as Democrats have no reason to because the party continues to choose our candidates in a heavy-handed way.
Competitive primaries are good for the party, and they are great for voter registration. We can’t let the DNC, Iowa Republicans, or New Hampshire law tell us when or how to vote. Iowa Democrats need to demand a fair vote in an actual election to choose who will represent our party on the ballot. Maybe Democrats trying democracy for a change would motivate more people to join the party.
Derek Eadon
Derek Eadon of West Des Moinesis a former Iowa Democratic Party state chair, a former Democratic National Committee member, and veteran of multiple presidential campaigns.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa Dems need competitive primaries to drive registration | Opinion
