While in many U.S. states, the primaries method is used in the presidential election, Iowa has a long-standing tradition of electoral gatherings • So how does it work?

• Preparing for the Iowa Election // Photo: Reuters

The Democratic Party will open its presidential election tomorrow (Monday), in which it will elect a new candidate to run for President Donald Trump in the November presidential election.

The subject of the pre-election system in the United States is complex, and almost every state and party chooses its candidates a little differently. While the system of primaries in the major parties in the United States is relatively simple, the method of election in the state of Iowa, which is traditionally the first state to elect a presidential election, is the electoral system, or in English - Quax.

Photo: Reuters

While in regular primaries, voters vote for their favorite candidate at the ballot box, by means of voter assemblies, party members gather in a designated place, usually a school, church, or even a private home, and decide on a process of persuasion and discussion of the desired candidate.

The electoral system of voting in the Democratic presidential elections is practiced in Texas, Iowa, Colorado, Maine, North Dakota, Hawaii, Alaska, Kansas, Wyoming and Nevada.

While the origin of the method and its name is not entirely clear, it is known that as early as British rule in the 13 colonies in North America, electoral assemblies convened to select candidates for public positions in the various colonies and took on a wide variety of forms.

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In the state of Iowa, where Democratic preliminary elections are expected to take place tomorrow, 1,681 such assemblies are convening, one for each constituency. The procedure, special to the Democratic Party, involves the physical distribution of supporters of the various candidates, including those who have not yet decided, to other points in the room.

After dividing into groups, candidate supporters try for half an hour to convince one another and the undecided to move alongside them, and at the end of half an hour, a count is made and a decision is made. After the decision is made, some members of the committee remain and select the delegates who will pass the Assembly resolution to the National Party convening, where the identity of the candidate chosen by the state is formally determined.

Disadvantages and advantages of the method

Supporters of the electoral system argue that it is more democratic and enables persuasion. According to the system's proponents, it also allows voters to vote for their second favorite candidate if they understand that their candidate planned to vote does not pass the blocking percentage or is unlikely to get elected.

Voters in Iowa Election // Photo: Wikipedia

Opponents of the system say it is cumbersome, time-consuming and causes many of the party's supporters not to attend general meetings, resulting in a low turnout in the pre-election elections. Voters often fail to reach the minimum turnout of 15% of registered voters and cancel.

In general, voter assemblies make the pre-election much less predictable. According to experts, the proportion of voters who change their voting day is much higher than at the polling booths. So, in general, it is possible to say that the upcoming elections in Iowa tomorrow are far less in the pocket of one or the other candidate than they seem.