The United States’ first-in-the-nation Iowa caucus will take place on Monday, Jan. 15, 2024. Iowa Republicans will be the first to cast their votes in support of a presidential candidate for the November 2024 election. However, Iowa will no longer be the first state on the primary election calendar for both major parties as the national Democratic Party has opted for South Carolina to be its first state.
Unlike a primary election, a caucus is run by the state party, not the state government, and does not require voting at a polling place. There are over 1,600 precincts across the state where Republicans will gather in designated community rooms, church basements and school cafeterias, to select their top choice for their party’s presidential nomination.
Where do I caucus?
For Republicans, please refer to the Cerro Gordo County Republican Caucus ad on page 3 to find where you need to be at 7 p.m. on caucus night. If you are unsure what voting precinct you live in the information may be found by going to the Iowa Secretary of State’s website at sos.iowa.gov.
Cerro Gordo County Democrats will still hold in-person caucuses the night of Jan. 15, but only to conduct other party business, such as electing unbound delegates and alternate delegates to county conventions, electing county central committee members and discussing platform resolutions that can be shared at the county conventions. All Cerro Gordo County precincts will caucus at Roosevelt Elementary School, 313 15th St. S.E. in Mason City.
Only registered Republicans and Democrats are allowed to participate in Iowa’s caucuses, but a person may register to vote for the first time or change their voter registration party status at their caucus site. You will need to bring a valid form of ID and proof of residency, like a utility bill, paycheck, lease, or property tax statement to register or change your registration. If you are already a registered Republican or Democrat you will still need to provide a valid ID to participate, such as an Iowa driver’s license, state non-operator ID, U.S. Passport, military or veteran identification, Iowa Voter Identification Card, or Tribal ID card or document.
You must be 18-years-old to vote, but any 17-year-old who will turn 18 by Election Day (Nov. 5, 2024) is eligible to caucus.
The first order of business at a Republican caucus is electing a chair and a secretary to lead the meeting. The chair will invite someone to speak on behalf of each of the presidential candidates in a final attempt to earn support from caucus goers. Once everyone has spoken, ballots, typically a blank piece of paper, are handed out to each person for them to write down their candidate choice. The ballots are handed in, tallied and the results are sent to the state party and announced when the tallies are complete, typically within a few hours.
For those who choose to stick around, caucus participants will then move on to other party business, including electing precinct committee people, choosing county delegates and discussing party platform planks.
This in-person only process has been criticized for excluding voters who may be working or have disabilities that make it more difficult to attend. Only about 30 percent of registered Republicans in the state caucused in 2016.
Caucusing for Iowa Democrats has dramatically changed in 2024. On prior caucus nights Democrats gathered at 7 p.m. to physically stand, and be counted, in corners of the room designated for a particular candidate. But that process is all gone now.
Beginning with this year’s election the Democratic National Committee heeded the call for a more diverse state to kick off their nominating process so they chose South Carolina, which unlike Iowa has a large Black population, as the first state on its 2024 caucus/primary calendar. These changes were also spurred by the reporting errors during the 2020 Iowa Democratic caucuses which bumped it out of its first state to caucus status.
In an effort to simplify their caucus process and make it more inclusive Iowa Democrats have moved to an entirely mail-in system of casting their presidential preferences. For those currently registered with the Iowa Democratic Party Presidential Preference Cards may be requested at iowademocrats.org/caucus. Simply fill out the online form or download a printable form, fill it out and return it by mail. You may call the helpline at (515)216-3893 to request presidential preference cards for persons with vision impairment or other accommodation needs or by emailing accommodations@iowademocrats.org.
The Preference Cards will be mailed out starting on Jan. 12. The last day to request a Presidential Preference Card will be Feb. 19 and the cards must be postmarked on or before March 5 in order to be accepted by the state party.
The results of the mail-in Presidential preference will be released on March 5, “Super Tuesday,” alongside several other states.
