Nevada Caucuses Present New Test to Democrats After Chaotic Iowa Contest

Nevada Democrats will host hundreds of caucuses on Saturday, the third contest in the state-by-state presidential nominating process, almost three weeks after the Iowa caucuses caused mayhem when a technical meltdown delayed results.

The Democratic race has narrowed to eight candidates vying for their party’s nomination to challenge Republican President Donald Trump in the Nov. 3 election.

Even with the smaller field, the caucus system remains complicated and presents more potential challenges to the party, which came under heavy criticism when the Iowa vote went awry.

After the contests in the states of Iowa and New Hampshire, where the electorate is overwhelmingly white, Nevada is the first test with a diverse population. Nearly one-third of voters in the Nevada Democratic caucuses in 2016 were either black or Latino, according to entrance polls.

Here is how the Nevada caucuses work:

IS CAUCUSING SIMILAR TO THAT OF IOWA?

Like in Iowa, instead of heading to a polling site to cast their ballots, Nevadans will conduct a series of caucus meetings across the state to tally who they think should be their party’s nominee.

Nevada will hold caucus meetings at 250 locations for 1,736 precincts, similar to the number of precincts in Iowa.

In each caucus, voters will divide themselves up and sit or stand with others supporting the same candidate. If there are enough like-minded voters, their candidate gets a delegate, referred to as being “viable.”

Voters who pick a candidate who does not have enough support – often at least 15% of those attending the caucus – will be forced to make a second choice.

They will have three options: back a candidate who is already viable, combine forces with the supporters of another unviable candidate and make that contender viable, or leave. That process is known as “realignment.”

The meetings are held at the same time and are scheduled to begin at 12 p.m. PST on Saturday (2000 GMT).