ISU students discovered how the Iowa caucus system works during a presentation at the Memorial Union Wednesday.

Speakers at the bipartisan Iowa Youth Caucus, designed to increase youth turnout at the Jan. 24 caucuses, included Iowa Secretary of State Chet Culver, U.S. Rep. Tom Latham, R-Iowa, and local youth political leaders.

A good portion of the two-hour program held in the Campanile Room for a crowd of nearly 60 people centered on how caucuses were conducted.

Chad Barth, president of the Iowa Federation of College Republicans and former ISU student, and Kim Rogers, member of the ISU Democrats and senior in political science, outlined step-by-step how a caucus works.

The procedures for the different parties are basically the same, albeit small differences in how the candidate to be endorsed is chosen.

The three main tasks to be accomplished during a caucus are: selecting delegates to send to the party’s county convention, developing planks and resolutions to form a platform to outline what issues the caucus members feel their party should concentrate on, and voting on which presidential candidate to support.

Both Barth and Rogers pointed out that the caucus process is open to anyone who will be of legal voting age by the time of the November elections, and even registered independents can take part in a caucus by temporarily changing their party affiliation (which can be done as late as Jan. 24 at the caucus site).

Rogers said a Democratic caucus usually will last about an hour, but Barth said the length of a Republican caucus will depend on how stubborn participants are about the platform.

“Somebody might just really want to hang guns from trees or something, and that’s what is very important to them,” Barth said.

Dianne Bystrom, director of the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics and moderator of the presentation, said it is important for students to find out what precinct in Ames they live in because even if they are registered in their hometown, they can take part in the caucus held in their local precinct.

The event was kicked off by speeches on the importance of the caucus and of youth involvement in politics by Culver and Latham.

“The first-in-the-nation caucus is very important to the state of Iowa,” Latham said. “The people in the system are begging for you to be there.”

Culver, a former collegiate football player, said although politics can be mundane at times and sometimes even boring, it also can be enjoyable.

“Politics can be fun,” Culver said. “It’s a way to channel that competitive spirit. We all like to win.”

Many students were in attendance at the presentation, and they seemed to learn a lot about the caucus process.

“I understand it a lot more now,” said Chris Parizek, senior in animal ecology. “Before I really had no idea how it worked.”

Parizek said although she’s an independent and had not considered attending the caucus, she might now.

Amanda Coe, undeclared freshman, said she went to the youth caucus because she had heard about it in several of her classes and wanted to learn more about the process.

“I think I have a good idea of how things work now,” said Coe, a Gore supporter.

Coe said she was glad to learn she could still take part in a caucus in Ames although she is registered to vote in her hometown of Clarence.

“Going home wasn’t going to happen. I live three hours away,” she said.

The Iowa Youth Caucus was sponsored by the Catt Center, the ISU political science department, the Political Science Club and the Greenlee School of Journalism.