What happens at an Iowa caucus? Your guide to the first-in-the-nation nominating contest

Iowa Republicans will gather in schools, churches and community halls to cast their vote for the presidential nomination and kick off the national primary process on Jan. 15.

Iowa Democrats, meanwhile, will hold party-organizing precinct caucuses on the same day as Republicans. But they will express their presidential preference using a new mail-in process and won’t announce results until March 5. The change came after national Democrats booted the state from its early nominating spot in an effort to redesign the calendar in a way that better represented the party's demographics.

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The Libertarian Party of Iowa achieved major party status in Iowa after the 2022 election, and it will hold its own organizing caucuses Jan. 15, the same night Republicans and Democrats hold their caucuses.

Here’s what you need to know about the Iowa caucuses.

What is a caucus?

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It’s a century-old tradition of Iowans gathering in person in their precincts to discuss and conduct party business, including electing delegates to county conventions, electing precinct representatives to the county central committee and discussing resolutions that can be shared at county conventions to be included in the state party platform.

Every four years, during presidential election cycles, this also entails registering their preference as to who should be their party’s nominee for president.

Caucuses are not primaries, which are state-run elections. Primary elections are conducted like other U.S. elections — at polling places and by secret ballot, held throughout the day and usually also with absentee/mail-in ballots and early voting.

Caucuses, by contrast, are meetings run by political parties, convened at a specific time — 7 p.m. on Jan. 15 — where every four years a presidential preference poll is conducted. Since it isn’t a traditional election, a candidate’s performance in Iowa is often viewed as a test of his or her campaign’s organizational strength.

The Iowa caucuses begin the process of choosing the party’s presidential nominee and serve to winnow a large field to a small group of contenders who have proved they are the most viable candidates.

In previous caucuses, winners included:

Republicans

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Democrats:

What happens at an Iowa caucus?

Republican and Democratic voters will gather at 7 p.m. on Jan. 15 at designated precinct locations. Libertarians will gather at 6:30 p.m.

Iowa Caucus: Republicans

After conducting a prayer and a Pledge of Allegiance, attendees will elect a permanent precinct caucus chair to run the caucus and a permanent secretary to record caucus results.

Before the presidential preference poll, representatives from each presidential campaign can make brief speeches in support of their candidate. Attendees will then cast their vote for president by writing a name on a slip of paper. Those votes are counted and announced to the caucus and reported to the state party.

A representative from each campaign is allowed to watch the tabulation.

Unlike in past Iowa Democratic caucuses, where Iowans stood in corners of the room to be counted, Republicans keep their choices a secret.

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Once the voting is over, caucus attendees move on to party business like electing delegates to the county convention and proposing items for the party platform.

A sample caucus night schedule released by the Iowa GOP estimates on average most precinct caucuses will adjourn within an hour and a half, depending on the size of the precinct and length of deliberations.

Iowa’s 40 delegates to the Republican National Convention will be bound on the first ballot proportionately to the results of the Iowa caucuses, unless only one candidate’s name is placed for nomination at the convention.

While voters across the country cast ballots for their preferred presidential candidate during the presidential primary season, it’s the delegates to the national party conventions who select the presidential nominees for each major party. Much like in the general election, where a candidate needs a majority of votes in the Electoral College to win the White House, candidates need a majority of delegate votes at the convention to win the party’s presidential nomination.

Iowa Caucus: Democrats

Iowa Democrats will hold their party-organizing caucus on Jan. 15 and express their choice for president via a mail-in process starting in January.

The party’s new presidential preference 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, along with an option to remain uncommitted.

Democrats will be able to cast their presidential preference through the mail by requesting a preference card at iowademocrats.org/caucus.

The last day to submit a request is 5 p.m. on Feb. 19. Preference cards will be mailed starting Jan. 12.

Printed request forms must be mailed to the Iowa Democratic Party at 5661 Fleur Dr., Des Moines, Iowa 50321. Or, Democrats may email their request forms to preferencecardrequest@iowademocrats.org.

Preference cards must be postmarked by March 5 in order to count. Results will be announced by party officials later that same day, which is Super Tuesday, when more than a half-dozen other states will hold presidential primaries.

The national party’s Rules and Bylaws Committee said it would not accept Iowa Democrats’ delegate selection plan unless the party ensured that the postmark deadline for mail-in presidential preference cards is March 5 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.

For questions, call the IDP’s helpline at (515) 216-3893.

Iowa Caucus: Libertarians

Libertarian Party of Iowa Chair Jules Cutler said the party’s caucus process will be similar to that of Republicans, where representatives for each candidate seeking the Libertarian Party’s nomination for president will make brief speeches in support of their candidate. Attendees will then cast their vote. Once the voting is over, caucus attendees move on to party business.

“We are not reinventing the wheel,” Cutler said. “You nominate, vote, conduct party business and you’re done in a half-hour to an hour.”

Who can participate in the caucuses?

Any person voting at a precinct caucus must be a registered voter and resident of Iowa, and a registered member of the political party living in the precinct in which they intend to caucus. Individuals may register to vote or change their party affiliation at the caucus.

To register to vote in Iowa, you must:

Iowans can register to vote online using the Iowa Department of Transportation's website or by downloading a voter registration form from the Iowa Secretary of State's website, sos.iowa.gov, and mailing the form to their county auditor.

Iowans also can register to vote in person on the day of the Iowa caucuses by showing up to their caucus site and bringing documents, including ID and proof of residency.

Iowans can check their voter registration status and find more information at voterready.iowa.gov/registertovote.

What do I need to take to my caucus site?

Iowa voters planning to participate in the Iowa caucuses will need to bring a valid form of ID on caucus night, which includes:

Those who plan to register to vote at their precinct location on caucus night, also will need to bring the following:

Where do I caucus?

For Republican and Democratic caucusgoers, there's a two-part system for finding where you need to be on caucus night:

The Libertarian Party of Iowa has posted county caucus location on its website at lpia.org/caucus/. All precincts in a county will meet at the listed location. If your county does not have a location yet, email info@lpia.org.

Caucus sites are subject to change, so Iowans should double check the website before they head out to caucus.

How many people will participate in the caucuses?

The Republican Party of Iowa said it expects participation in this year’s caucus to be on par with 2016, in which a record more than 186,000 Republicans cast their preference for presidential candidate.

The previous two contested cycles in 2012 and 2008 saw turnout of around 120,000.

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