A total of 19,609 Iowans have requested the presidential preference cards they’ll need to participate in the Iowa Democratic Party’s first-ever mail-in presidential caucus, party officials said Thursday.
The deadline to request the cards, which function like normal election ballots, was Feb. 19.
Party leaders said the final batch of preference cards will be mailed out to Iowa Democrats on Monday and should arrive in mailboxes within 24 hours.
The cards must be returned to the state party or postmarked by March 5 in order to count. Results will be announced that day, which is known as Super Tuesday, at a to-be-determined time.
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Party officials said they will store returned cards in a secure location in the lead up to March 5, and they will begin tabulating them “around March 1.”
Although Democratic President Joe Biden has not faced a significant challenge in his run for a second term here in Iowa, two other names also will appear on Iowans’ cards: author Marianne Williamson and U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota. Iowa Democrats also can choose to say they are “uncommitted” to any of the candidates.
Williamson has since suspended her campaign.
The change to a mail-in caucus on Super Tuesday follows a protracted battle with the Democratic National Committee, which voted last year to replace Iowa at the front of the presidential nominating calendar.
For the first time since 1972, Iowa Democrats have not held that lead-off spot, instead ceding the honor to South Carolina.
When Republicans met to caucus for president earlier this year, Democrats also gathered, but only to conduct party business. They chose instead to move to an entirely absentee system for casting presidential preferences. They said it would be a way to improve access and participation in the contests, which historically draw far less people than a traditional primary.
More: The death of the Iowa Democratic caucus: How 50 years of jury-rigging doomed an American tradition
Unlike a primary, the Democrats’ previous in-person caucuses required Iowans to show up at 7 p.m. on a Monday night, creating barriers for those with child care needs, mobility issues, jobs that require evening work and more. They have said they hope the move to a mail-in caucus will eliminate some of those participation barriers and lead to a more robust caucus electorate.
Turnout numbers have traditionally been difficult to pin down for Democrats, who until recently did not release raw vote totals for each contest, instead relying on a complex formula for “state delegate equivalents.”
News reports differ on the total Democratic turnout in 2012, the last time an incumbent Democrat ran for president. But party officials peg the number at about 15,000.
In 2020, the last time Republicans ran an incumbent president, about 32,000 people participated. That year, then-Republican President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign made a concerted effort to drive up turnout, even though the race was uncontested.
The Iowa Democratic Party said in a statement the group is hoping to set the standard for future success in more competitive election cycles.
“It’s been an absolute pleasure seeing the response we’ve had to our new Presidential Preference Card process,” the statement said. “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.”
Brianne Pfannenstiel is the chief politics reporter for the Register. Reach her at bpfann@dmreg.com or 515-284-8244. Follow her on Twitter at @brianneDMR.
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