Eastern Iowa caucus sites see large turnouts

It was about 6:05 p.m. Monday at the Iowa City Public Library when Sue Jorgensen, 69, gestured to the room of about 40 Democrats.

'I'm shocked there aren't that many people here. Of course,” she said, 'I did get here about an hour early. It will probably get packed.”

She was right.

About five minutes before the doors to Iowa City precinct 20 closed at 7 p.m., caucus chairman Doug Dorando expressed his surprise at the size of the crowd. A line, with mostly young voters, stretched out of the meeting room, through the lobby, outdoors and down the block on Linn Street.

'I was expecting maybe 300 to 400, but this looks like we have close to 600 to 700,” he said.

At least 75 participants never made it into the room and participated from the library's lobby.

Official turnout numbers for Democrat precincts were not available Monday night, but high voter turnouts were reported throughout Eastern Iowa, with many precincts dealing with standing room only and lines stretching out the door.

Linn County Democratic Party Chairman Bret Nilles said countywide turnout far exceeded his expectations.

'Turnout was much higher than we had expected. I think it was a surprise,” he said shortly after 9 p.m. 'I would say it's countywide. I've heard a lot of reports of new registration forms being requested.”

The GOP also saw large turnouts.

By press time Monday, more than 6,600 straw poll presidential preference ballots had been cast in Johnson County, with 91 percent of the GOP precincts reporting.

In Linn County, more than 7,700 votes had been cast, with 73 percent of the precincts reporting.

Bill Keettel, chairman of the Johnson County Republicans, had predicted large crowds.

'In most cases, we'll be able to handle it just fine,” he said. 'In a few instances, I have rooms where I'm concerned they're not going to be adequately sized for the crowds they're going to bring in. My initial projections - we're at about 5,000 Republicans across all of Johnson County.”

More than 4,600 Republicans turned out for the 2012 caucus. In 2008, the GOP attendance was nearly 4,000.

John Deeth, caucus coordinator with the Johnson County Democrats, said early Monday that he expected county turnout to be somewhere between that of 2004, when about 11,000 caucused, and 2008, when the contest between Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John Edwards attracted 18,000 people.

'I'm prepping for something in the ballpark of 15,000,” Deeth said.