Pinoytransplant Goes to Iowa Caucus

Besides corn, there’s another thing that Iowa is well known for: politics. It is a fact that Iowa is the political epicenter and the state of the first major electoral event for the US presidential nomination process, the Iowa Caucus.

So tonight, after living here in Iowa for 12 years, I got to participate in my first ever caucus.

Since we were first time voters, my wife, my daughter who would be turning 18 this year, and I, had to register first and show our identification documents, before we were handed our ballots. I guess no “flying voters” here, just like in the Philippines, where even the dead can vote.

Then we entered this big hall and were given instructions on how this process would go. As I looked around the large auditorium, there were probably 250 to 300 people in that voting precinct. It was noteworthy, that my family and I, stuck out like a sore thumb in that group of people, for we were the only non-white or of a different race there. Not much diversity to speak of here.

Then we were asked to separate to different groups based on our candidate preference. As people went to different corners of the room, there were a few who remained seated. I supposed they were the undecided, or maybe they were just too lazy to stand.

Then each group picked a representative to speak for each candidate’s behalf. While people spoke enthusiastically for different candidates, I was really surprised nobody spoke for Mr. Trump. No one! Fox News should have seen this!

Finally after all the representatives have spoken, we mark our ballots and they were then collected. 

After the all the ballots were cast, most people made their way out the door, and only a handful stayed to witness the counting and the tallying of the votes. Its either they don’t care about the results, or the big snowstorm coming our way in a few hours scared most people to head home.

As I placed my ballot into the collection box, I knew something happened to me. I now can call myself, a true Iowan.