IOWA CAUCUSES

Apply now to join Our Caucus

The Des Moines Register is introducing Our Caucus, a platform designed to bring in varying viewpoints and experiences during this election cycle.

Amalie Nash
anash@dmreg.com
Simpson College junior Tegan Jarchow, a member of the Simpson debate team, listens to a counterpoint during a mock debate during the Most Important Damn Issue Mockus, a Republican-style caucus held at the Des Moines Social Club on Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2015.

This is Our Caucus.

It might be your first. Or maybe you've done this before.

You might be a Democrat. Or a Republican. Or perhaps you don't identify with a political party at all.

You might already know the candidate you're going to caucus for. Or you're still gathering information.

Ours is a political process filled with diverse viewpoints, passionately held beliefs and varying levels of involvement.

We want to showcase all of those voices. The Des Moines Register is introducing Our Caucus, a platform designed to bring in varying viewpoints and experiences during this election cycle.

We're looking for writers, videographers and folks who excel at social media to join Our Caucus and tell their stories. We're especially interested in younger Iowans, who are underrepresented in the caucuses but are so critical to the political process.

Content produced by Our Caucus participants — who will be paid a stipend for their work — will be featured in the Register, on Medium and across social media channels. Unlike traditional reporting, we want people willing to offer their opinions and talk about their own experiences as they learn more about candidates and issues.

It's important that we get a diverse set of viewpoints — people who lean right or lean left, people engaged with the process and those who are disenfranchised with politics, people who have picked their candidate and those still looking, and people with varying backgrounds from across the state. We're hoping for students (high school and college), recent graduates and young adults establishing careers and starting families.

The goal of Our Caucus is to provide first-person perspectives in ways we haven't before and to give readers an opportunity to be part of the journey. We want people who can go to candidate rallies and campaign stops, talk with their peers about politics and write about what it's like to be part of the first-in-the-nation process.

Funding for the project comes from the Knight Foundation, which earlier this year awarded the Register a grant to help increase civic engagement in the caucus process.

Apply now for Our Caucus at DesMoinesRegister.com/JoinOurCaucus.