The Iowa caucuses are not conducted by our office, since they are not an election. But we get most of the questions, so we'll answer them. (Some of the answers are "talk to the parties.")

The caucuses are meetings conducted by the three full status political parties (Democratic, Republican, and Libertarian), which set the rules and procedures.

All three parties have scheduled caucuses for 7 PM Monday, January 15. The Republicans and Libertarians will have presidential voting at their caucuses. The Democrats will only conduct party business at their caucuses and will hold a mail-in presidential vote. It is against the law to participate in more than one party's caucus (i.e. you cannot attend the Republican or Libertarian caucus and also request a ballot for the Democratic mail-in vote.)

Locations are set by the parties, not by our office. The parties are not required to report locations to our office until seven days before the caucus. We will provide locations as soon as they are available.

The Republicans do not have absentee voting - you must attend the caucus in person in order to vote. The Democrats will have only mail-in voting - if all you want to do is vote for a presidential candidate, you do not need to attend the caucus.

All parties require caucus attendees to register with the party in order to participate, and will allow registration and re-registration on caucus night.

We will post more information as it becomes available from the parties.

Republican Caucus

Caucus Information Page - Republican Party of Iowa

There have been no changes to the Republican caucus process.

Republicans conduct a straw poll for President by secret ballot. The whole caucus then elects delegates and alternates to the county convention.

A temporary chair calls the caucus to order and a permanent chair (usually but not always the same person) is elected. Depending on the mood of the room, people may discuss the candidates.

Caucus attendees cast secret ballots in a straw poll. The votes are counted and reported to state party headquarters.

At this point the straw poll result is final and persons who do not want to participate in other business may leave.

All persons still in attendance elect county convention delegates. The caucus then proceeds to elect party officers and discuss the platform.

Johnson County Republicans
Phone 319-339-8381
Republican Party of Iowa

Democratic Caucus

The Iowa Democratic Party has made major changes to its caucus process for 2024. Presidential voting will be entirely conducted by mail. There will no longer be preference groups or realignment at the caucus. Anyone who only wants to vote for president, and does not want to participate in party business, does not need to attend.

Democrats may now request a "presidential preference card" (ballot) from the Iowa Democratic Party. Ballots will be mailed beginning January 12. The request deadline is February 19, and ballots must be postmarked by March 5 to be counted. Please note that it is against Iowa law to participate in more than one party's caucus - you cannot request a ballot from the Democrats and also attend the Republican or Libertarian caucus.

Caucus Information and Request Page - Iowa Democratic Party

On January 15, Democrats will meet for party business only. Most caucus locations will have multiple precincts and attendees will start the meeting in one large group. The meeting will then break out into individual precincts to conduct business.

Johnson County Democratic Caucus Locations

Once the meeting breaks into precincts, a temporary chair calls the caucus to order and a permanent chair (usually but not always the same person) is elected. Each precinct will elect unpledged delegates to the county convention. Attendees will also elect committee members and discuss the platform.

The Iowa Democratic Party will announce results of the mail-in vote on March 5. Delegates to the congressional district, state, and national conventions will be allocated based on the results of the mail-in vote.

Johnson County Democrats
Phone 319-337-8683
Iowa Democratic Party
Libertarian Caucus

The Libertarians earned full party status in the 2022 election and will hold a caucus in 2024.

The Johnson County Libertarians plan to hold one caucus for the whole county at the Coralville Public Library, 1401 5th St. (Meeting Room B)

Johnson County Libertarians (Facebook)

Libertarian Party of Iowa caucus page

Past Johnson County Caucus Results

Because the caucuses aren't elections, we're not in charge of results. The results below were provided by the parties or reported to the press.

Through 2016, Democrats reported only delegate counts and attendance, and no vote totals.

Republicans did not hold straw polls in years when a Republican president was seeking re-election (1984, 1992, 2004), but did hold a straw vote in 2020.