Iowa should no longer be the first state where ballots are cast in the presidential election, as the United States has changed a great deal in the years since 1972, when the decision was made to have the state's caucuses kick off the process, Democratic presidential candidate Julian Castro said Monday.
"I don't think that Iowa and New Hampshire reflect the diversity of our party, of our country, in different ways, and I think the way that we should fix that is that the DNC (Democratic National Committee) should put together a commission or task force of people from different parts of the country that should actually come up with a way to rank order these states," Castro told MSNBC's "Morning Joe."
Castro added that the caucus system in Iowa makes voting difficult, as it only begins at 7 p.m. on one night.
"People with disabilities in Iowa have complained for many years that especially when you're having a caucus in the dead of winter, that's not exactly the most accessible way to vote," said Castro.
In addition, the caucus is "not about a secret ballot," said Castro, as voters have to declare their choice "right in front of everybody."
"Because of that, you only have about a 16% turnout rate in the caucus. We can do things a little bit better and I'm willing to tell the truth about that," said Castro.
Rather than having Iowa go first, a look should be taken at rotating the states or having two go Castro said he also wants the DNC to reconsider its guidelines for debates before the January event comes about, complaining that the current format does not allow for enough candidates to participate.
"We're just asking the DNC to be more thoughtful about these thresholds to allow for more robust conversation up there on the debate stage," said Castro, who according to Real Clear Politics is polling at about 1%.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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