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January 3, 2008 Iowa Presidential Caucuses

• Johnson County Precinct Results
  • Democratic
  • Republican
• List of Caucus Sites
  • January 2, 2008 Information Release:  75% of Precincts May Have Different Caucus Site Than Polling Place
• Attendance and Voter Registration

Delegates to the national conventions that nominate each party's presidential candidate are elected in a process that begins here in Iowa at the grass-roots caucus level.  Each party will conduct caucuses in all of Iowa's precincts, at sites ranging from rooms in public facilities to private homes.

Attendance

Democratic: 18,363
Republican: 3,980
Total: 22,343

While other registrations were processed between Jan. 3 and Jan. 16, the overwhelming majority were from the caucuses.

* Jan 1, 2008: first day voters could register as Green or Libertarian.

Dates

Iowa's first in the nation precinct caucuses are conducted by the political parties, not by our office.  Both parties held their caucuses on January 3, 2008. 

Less well-known candidates, possible candidates, and candidates of other parties may be found at politics1.com

Disclaimer

Party Information

Johnson County Democrats Phone 337-8683 Chair: Brian Flaherty Iowa Democratic Party

Johnson County Republicans Phone 339-8381 Chair: Bill Keettel Republican Party of Iowa

Past Johnson County Caucus Results (as provided by parties or reported to press)

Caucus Procedure

In both parties, a caucus participant must be a resident of the precinct and be at least 18 years old as of November 4, 2008 (born on or before November 4, 1990).  Participants must actually attend the caucus in the precinct in which they live - there is no absentee voting.  In addition, participants must be registered to vote with the party whose caucus they are attending.  Both parties allow participants to register, update their registration, or change party on caucus night.  The parties are then responsible for returning the voter registration forms to our office.

Guests may attend the caucus to observe but may not participate.  Both parties have youth participation programs for persons who will not be 18 by November 4, 2008; contact the parties for details.

Both parties discuss issues and candidates, choose party precinct officers, and elect delegates to the party's county convention, usually held in March.  County conventions elect delegates to congressional district and state conventions, which elect national convention delegates.  The national conventions formally nominate the party's presidential candidate.

• Democratic National Convention, August 25 - 28, Denver.
• Republican National Convention, September 1 - 4, Minneapolis.

The number of county convention delegates elected from each precinct is determined by each party, based on how many votes the party's candidates for governor and president received in that precinct in the 2004 and 2006 general elections.

The two parties elect their county convention delegates differently.

The Democratic Party elects county convention delegates by presidential preference group, rather than by the whole caucus.  At the time delegates are elected, the caucus splits up into preference groups - supporters of each candidate gather in different parts of the room. A presidential preference group must have at least 15% (called "viability") of the precinct's total number of caucus attendees in order to elect county convention delegates. Participants are allowed to regroup if their candidate has too few supporters to choose a delegate or if they decide to support another candidate. More specific details on caucus procedure are at the Iowa Democratic Party's caucus web site.

The Republican Party conducts a straw poll for President by secret ballot in years when the nomination is contested. (No vote was held in 2004, when President Bush was unopposed for renomination.) The whole caucus then elects delegates and alternates to the county convention. Iowa Republican Party caucus page

Sample Democratic Caucus 100 people attend the Democratic precinct caucus. Based on previous elections, the precinct will elect 10 county convention delegates. Caucus attendees break into preference groups as follows: John F. Kennedy: 44 supporters Franklin D. Roosevelt: 30 supporters Harry S Truman: 14 supporters Woodrow Wilson: 12 supporters The Truman and Wilson groups have less than 15% of the caucus attendees, and are not yet entitled to any delegates. Caucus attendees now have the option to realign (switch their support to another candidate). In the realignment stage, the Truman supporters stay together and persuade five of the Wilson supporters to join them. Two of the remaining Wilson supporters join the Roosevelt group, and the other five join the Kennedy group. The new group totals are: Kennedy: 49 supporters Roosevelt: 32 supporters Truman: 19 supporters This alignment produces the following allocation of delegates: Kennedy: 5 delegates Roosevelt: 3 delegates Truman: 2 delegates These results are then reported to party headquarters: "Kennedy 5 delegates, Roosevelt 3 delegates, Truman 2 delegates."  No group totals from either the first alignment or the final alignment are reported. At this point the delegate allocation to candidates is final and persons who do not want to participate in other business may leave. The delegates in the three remaining presidential preference groups each elect their own delegates to the county convention.  When that is completed, the presidential preference groups come back together.  All persons still in attendance then proceed to elect party officers and discuss the platform.

Sample Republican Caucus 100 people attend the Republican precinct caucus. Based on previous elections, the precinct will elect 10 county convention delegates. Caucus attendees cast secret ballots.  (No names are printed on the ballots, so all votes are write-ins.)  The votes are counted with these results: Abraham Lincoln: 44 Ronald Reagan: 30 Teddy Roosevelt: 14 Dwight D. Eisenhower: 12 These results are then reported to party headquarters: "Abraham Lincoln 44 votes, Ronald Reagan 30 votes, Teddy Roosevelt 14 votes, Dwight D. Eisenhower 12 votes." At this point the result is final and persons who do not want to participate in other business may leave. All persons still in attendance elect 10 county convention delegates and then proceed to elect party officers and discuss the platform.