Final weekend for Iowa Democrats to request presidential preference card

More than 17,500 Iowa Democrats had requested mail-in caucus cards by Friday morning to participate in the party’s 2024 presidential nominating contest.

In 2012, the last time a Democratic incumbent was on the ballot when then-President Barack Obama ran for re-election, about 15,000 Democrats voted at their caucus sites, the Iowa Democratic Party said in a news release.

The number, though, is a fraction — less than 3 percent — of the nearly 658,000 registered Democratic voters in the state.

In comparison, more than 110,000 Iowa Republicans cast votes Jan. 15 in the first-in-the-nation, 2024 Iowa Republican presidential precinct caucuses — or 15 percent of the more than 750,000 registered Republican voters in the state.

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Of the 17,510 requests for mail-in Democrat preference cards, more than 16,000 had been mailed to households and more than 6,000 cards have been returned, according to the Iowa Democratic Party.

This is the final weekend for Iowa Democrats to request their 2024 presidential preference cards. The deadline to submit a request for a presidential preference card is 11:59 p.m. on Monday. Democrats can request a card through at iowademocrats.org/caucus.

Iowa Democrats have until March 5 to return their preference card, and it must be postmarked by then to be accepted.

Party officials strongly encourage cards to be returned through the mail and not dropped off at the Iowa Democratic Party headquarters or local county party offices.

New batches of preference cards are mailed out every Monday and arrive within 24 hours.

The Iowa Democratic Party has a team of staff providing assistance and answering questions about the new mail-in process. Those with last minute questions can call (515) 216-3893.

A party spokesperson said returned preference cards are stored in a secure location, and will begin being tabulating around March 1. Results will be announced March 5 — Super Tuesday — when more than a half-dozen other states will hold presidential primaries.

Details when results will be made available will be announces later, party officials said.

The party’s new cards will include the names of incumbent President Joe Biden and two long-shot challengers, U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota and author Marianne Williamson — who last week suspended her campaign — along with an option to remain uncommitted.

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“While it’s clear that President Biden will be our nominee, it’s important Iowa Democrats participate in our mail-in caucus so that we can set ourselves up for success in 2028 and beyond,” Iowa Democratic Party Chair Rita Hart said in a statement.

National Democrats last year reshaped their presidential nominating calendar, booting Iowa from being first in the nation and removing Iowa from the group of early states all together.

The decision followed a chaotic 2020 caucus night for Iowa Democrats when a smartphone app — meant to make reporting results easier — failed. As a result, the official Democratic caucus results were not reported for several weeks. State party leaders have been critical of the Democratic National Committee's involvement in delaying development of the app and then demanding additional technology that failed on caucus night.

The debacle compounded existing concerns about Iowa's lack of racial diversity and barriers to participation. The Iowa Democratic put forward the mail-in proposal to make the caucuses more accessible — which was one of the main criticisms. Following the 2020 presidential election, many national party leaders expressed a preference for primary elections over party-run caucuses.

Republicans have roundly criticized the decision, saying Democrats have turned their back on Iowa and rural America. National Democratic Party leaders have said they would revisit the presidential nominating calendar for 2028.

Comments: (319) 398-8499; tom.barton@thegazette.com