Everything you need to know about Saturday’s Nevada Caucus

Nevada will become the third State in the 2020 Democratic primary to vote for their nominee.

Most of the states the Democrats compete in for the nomination use a primary system. You enter the voting booth, select your candidate, then leave. Whoever has the most votes wins. Everyone above 15% receives some delegates. Exactly what one thinks of when they picture voting.

Nevada however uses a caucus system. There are different locations where one goes to vote, often places like high school gyms. At those locations each candidate has a section where people congregate, often for hours. You can try to convince people to come to your candidate’s section. Then they count how many people are in each section. If a candidate has less than 15% at that point, their supports must choose a different candidate. Then they count the votes again and whoever wins at that point is the overall winner.

At the moment Bernie Sanders has a solid lead in the polls largely bolstered by his strength with Hispanic and young voters. Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, and Pete Buttigieg are competing for second place.

Warren had a very strong debate on Wednesday, which may boost her chances, however many voters voted early before the debate took place which could work to mitigate any advantage she would have received.

Nevada, with its large hispanic population and sizable black community, is the first diverse state of the primary. This is expected to help Sanders and Biden while hurting Buttigiege, Warren, and Klobuchar who have been struggling with non-white voters. Nevada, more so than New Hampshire and Iowa, is a test of how the primary will play out in the nation as a whole because its demographics are far more representative of the Democratic party.

Voter turnout based on early voting numbers is expected to be at record highs. Iowa was far lower than its record turnout in 2008. New Hampshire turnout was slightly above narrowly previous record.

After Nevada the candidates will compete in South Carolina next week.