As the presidential election process moves to its second stop, the repercussions from Iowa’s Democratic caucus last week continue to be felt.
Pete Buttigieg eventually claimed first with 26.2 percent, enough to take 13 delegates, but the process was marred by technology issues — most notably with the use of an untried app to track voting. Emporia State political science professor Michael Smith took several students to a caucus site in Iowa last week, and he says things ran smoothly from what they could see. In fact, the team didn’t learn of any issues until after they went home to watch the nightly news.
Iowa has long been the first state in the presidential election process, but Smith says the events of last week could change things.
The New Hampshire primary is coming Tuesday, where Buttigieg and Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren are expected to do well. Smith does not expect any negative impact from the caucus process for the major candidates.
Kansas Democrats will have a primary May 2 for in-person voting. Mail-in ballots will be collected from March 30 to April 24. More information is available at www.kansasdems.org.
