Iowa Democrats—GOP Spoilers or Latter-Day Don Quixotes?

In addition to being the first state to chime in on the presidential primaries, and to use the caucus system rather than a primary election, Iowa also has one other political oddity: Same-day registration. One can wake up in the morning, register as a Republican, and then take part in a precinct caucus that evening. That system, like many electoral systems, has its problems, one of which being that Iowa Democrats could cross Jordan and vote for a GOP Presidential candidate.

Like, say, Nikki Haley.

Some Iowa Democrats and independents are planning to crash the state's Republican caucuses Monday night and become "Republicans for a day" to vote for Nikki Haley — but mostly, against former President Trump.
Why it matters: It's unclear how many will show up, but "crossover" voting is a low-key tradition in Iowa's caucuses — and it's one of the big unknowns heading into Monday, along with how the dangerously cold weather will affect things.
How it works: Iowa allows day-of party registration for voters, and Democrats aren't holding in-person presidential caucuses this year.
That's given mischievous anti-Trump voters "a chance to diminish Trump's inevitability," as Don McLeese of West Des Moines put it.
McLeese told Axios he'll be a crossover voter Monday: "I'll hold my nose and caucus for Haley," the former UN ambassador who's been rising in GOP polls.

Iowa Republicans are concerned, as well.

Lyle Hansen, a Republican precinct captain for Haley in Cedar Rapids, acknowledges that "there could be a good crossover" vote for Haley because Democrats "get to come over and pick the candidate for Biden to oppose."
Hansen speaks from experience, having crossed over to vote in the Democratic caucus in 2016 in order to vote against Hillary Clinton

As for any lasting effect this will have on the Republican nomination process, well, as usual, you can color me skeptical.

It's easy to appreciate someone taking advantage of this policy to wreak a little havoc. Those of us who were paying attention to politics in 2008 will doubtless remember Rush Limbaugh's famous "Operation Chaos," which was intended to sow discord in the 2008 Democrat contest between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. But in the end, Operation Chaos didn't have that much effect - we might recall that Barack Obama won the Democrat nomination and then the election, and it wasn't particularly close. And in the end, this effort at the Iowa caucuses won't make much difference, either.

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We have New Hampshire, with a traditional primary, hot on the heels of Iowa. And on March 5th, Super Tuesday, 18 states cast their primary ballots, which will reduce all of these efforts by Iowa Democrats to the level of statistical noise. Efforts such as this could, yes, have an effect in the event of a very close primary.

This one isn't looking like it's going to be all that close. The elephant in the room remains as big as ever.

Everybody has the right to cast their vote as they please, of course, assuming (remember what happens when we assume) that they are operating within the boundaries of the law. The several states have, under the Constitution, a lot of latitude in how they conduct elections, and in Iowa, this (same-day registration) is part of the system they have chosen. The world has no shortage of windmills to tilt at, and if these people want to be latter-day Don Quixotes, they are free to knock themselves out.

But, hand-wringing by some in both parties aside, this won't end up being much of a much.