Native Arkansan Roy Hill offers an entertaining narrative of his first experience with the Iowa caucuses to Talk Business

One thing markedly different in Iowa compared to Arkansas is the requirement to declare a party affiliation when registering to vote. Even though my voting has fit a rather predictable pattern for decades now, I still refused to declare an official party affiliation on my Arkansas voter registration.

In Iowa, if you want to vote in a caucus, you have to declare a party. So I reluctantly declared “Republican” when I registered. Kim, to her credit, originally insisted on declaring Independent on her registration, but changed her mind once she learned she’d have to declare Republican in order to caucus. Fortunately, voters can change their registration or even register for the first time at the caucus site.

Iowa caucuses are in some ways less formal and more social than primary election voting in Arkansas. Caucuses are held all over the place, including grain silos, bars, grocery stores, even at least one local gun shop.

Hill goes on to recount the noisy process in some colorful detail. Here’s the full story. 

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Meanwhile, a number of familiar faces in Arkansas politics made the trip to Iowa last night for last-minute campaigning: 

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