Iowa Democrats release details of mail-in caucus plan

Iowa Democrats will wait until Super Tuesday in early March to release the results of its planned mail-in caucus presidential preference contest that begins months earlier.

Iowa Democrats will be able to register for the mail-in absentee process starting Nov. 1, according to new details released by the party. Presidential preference cards will be mailed starting Jan. 12.

Iowa Democratic Party Chair Rita Hart briefed reporters Friday ahead of a meeting of the Democratic National Committee's rules committee, which has yet to sign off on Iowa Democrats’ presidential preference plan.

  Buy Photo

Iowa Democrats voted last month to hold their 2024 caucuses on Jan. 15, the same day as Republicans. The date also falls on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a federal holiday.

On caucus night, the Democratic caucuses will conduct party business separate from the presidential nominating contest, elect precinct officers and determine unbound delegates to the county convention. For the presidential contest, Democratic caucus participants will select their preferred candidate on a preference card, which can be requested by mail or online. The card can be returned by mail.

“As you know, Iowa Democrats have listened to the concerns of this committee and have worked tirelessly for nearly two years to create the most inclusive Presidential nominating process in history,” Hart wrote to the DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee.

National Democrats earlier this 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. Democrats set South Carolina as the first nominating contest, though primary conflicts in early states mean the calendar still is in question.

The Iowa Democratic Party had put forward the mail-in proposal to make the caucuses more accessible — which was one of the main criticisms from national Democrats — in an effort to maintain its first-in-the-nation status. Following the 2020 presidential election, though, many national party leaders expressed a preference for primary elections over party-run caucuses.

The national party’s Rules and Bylaws Committee found Iowa Democrats’ previous delegate selection plan, which did not include a caucus date, non-compliant in June. The committee had said it would not approve the plan unless Iowa Democrats ensure that the postmark deadline for mail-in presidential preference cards is March 5, 2024, or later — ensuring that Iowa's caucus results couldn't be announced until after the early voting window concludes and other states begin weighing in on Super Tuesday.

  Buy Photo

The Democratic National Committee’s rules committee granted conditional compliance Friday afternoon to Iowa’s mail-in caucus plan. Rules and Bylaws Committee Co-Chair Minyon Moore commended the Iowa Democratic Party “for transforming their caucuses to include an inclusive and accessible mail-in process.”

After negotiations with DNC staff, Iowa Democrats updated the plan as follows:

To receive a card, individuals will have to be registered to vote as a Democrat in Iowa, according to a party official. Hart said logistical details remain “a work in progress,” but the party plans to release those “very soon.”

Iowa Republicans worry over Democrats’ plan

The proposed mail-in process has frustrated Iowa Republicans, who believe it looks too much like a primary and could threaten their own first-in-the-nation status.

Iowa Republicans have feared Democrats’ plan could trigger a fight with New Hampshire, which has opposed Iowa's use of mail-in caucus. Republican New Hampshire Secretary of State David Scanlan has said that if Iowa Democrats move forward with a mail-in caucus, he will consider it a primary and move New Hampshire’s contest ahead of Iowa’s, which could in turn threaten Iowa Republicans’ status.

But on Friday, Scanlan told the Des Moines Register he views Iowa Democrats’ 2024 caucus plan “as a positive development in protecting the traditional positions of the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary.”

Hart criticized Iowa Republicans for passing and signing into law a bill requiring state parties to hold in-person caucuses if the purpose of the caucus is to tally support for presidential candidates, calling it a partisan attack “to meddle in our party business.”

The law requires caucuses to be conducted in person only if the purpose of the caucus is to select delegates as part of the presidential nominating process — leaving open the possibility of doing the presidential preference process on a different date.

“We believe this delegate selection plan is definitely a compromise and it meets the requirements set forth by the Rules and Bylaws Committee and it complies with Iowa law for 2024,” Hart told reporters. "I’ve always said I will do what’s best for Iowa, not what’s best for another state or for another party. And I believe that this plan is what’s best for us right now. … The Republican Party has no business telling the Democratic Party how to conduct its business.“

Iowa DNC member Scott Brennan, who sits on the rules committee, called the new Iowa law “wrongheaded,” and pointed to court cases that protect the rights of state parties determine their own processes.

Iowa GOP Chairman Jeff Kaufmann, in a statement, said the Republican Party of Iowa and the Republican National Committee “will continue to steadfastly defend our half-century-old carveout system, to ensure the triumph of grassroots democracy that ultimately strengthens our presidential nominating process."

Asked whether she expects the party’s mail-in plan to be challenged in court by Iowa Republicans, Hart said Iowa Democrats “are definitely following the letter of the law.”

Democrats hope to regain leadoff status

Hart said she has the repeated reassurance from national party leaders that they will revisit the presidential nominating calendar for 2028.

“I expect Iowa will compete strongly for a significant voice in the selection of our Democratic nominee as we have for years,” she said. “I’ve also gotten a commitment that no state has a guaranteed spot in the pre-window for 2028.”

In a letter to the DNC rules committee, Hart said “it is vital small rural states in the heart of the Midwest have a voice in this process. Democrats need our diversifying rural communities to ensure future electoral victories.”

Hart said she does not expect Democratic President Joe Biden will field a serious primary challenge in his bid for re-election. News reports suggest challenger Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will likely party switch from Democrat to independent. Self-help author and spiritual leader Marianne Williamson, meanwhile, has launched another long-shot bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Steffen Schmidt, a professor of political science at Iowa State University, argues the decision to hold “real caucuses” in January and wait until Super Tuesday to release presidential preference results means “Now Iowa becomes politically irrelevant.”

"All the media will be in Iowa for the caucuses, and they really want to see presidential horse race results,“ Schmidt said. ”And they aren’t going to get that from the Democrats. That pretty much makes the Democratic caucus, at least, not very valuable.“

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