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January 3, 2012 Iowa Presidential Caucuses

Johnson County Results (as reported by parties)

• Republican Party (final January 19 vote count)
  • Vote count as released January 4, 2012
• Democratic Party (delegate count)
• The political parties are responsible for results, not our office.

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.  On January 3, 2012, both major parties held caucuses for all of Iowa's precincts, at sites ranging from rooms in public facilities to private homes.

The Iowa caucuses are not conducted by our office, since they are not an election. The caucuses are a meeting conducted by the two full status political political parties (Democratic and Republican), which set the rules and procedures. The parties are required to:

• inform our office of caucus locations at least seven days before the caucuses,
• turn in a list of delegates and party officers elected, and
• turn in all voter registrations and absentee ballot requests from the caucuses.

Dates

The Republican and Democratic Parties are each responsible for setting their own caucus date. Historically, Iowa Democrats and Republicans have worked together to keep the caucuses on the same night and before any other caucus or primary in the nation. In recent years this has meant dates have been announced and later rescheduled, as other states compete with and challenge Iowa's first in the nation role.

The national committees of both parties agreed that no states would be allowed to hold 2012 presidential primaries or caucuses before March with the exception of four designated early states, in this order: Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina. These four states were allowed to have caucuses or primaries in February, and both Iowa parties scheduled their caucuses for February 6, 2012.

However, on September 30, 2011, Florida scheduled its primary for January 31, 2012. In response, the four designated early states rescheduled their primaries and caucuses. On October 17, 2011, the state central committee of the Republican Party of Iowa voted to hold caucuses at 7 PM Tuesday, January 3, 2012. The Democratic Party's state central committee met on October 20 and chose the same date and time.

Party Information

Johnson County Democrats Phone 337-8683 Chair: Terry Dahms Iowa Democratic Party

Johnson County Republicans Phone 339-8381 Chair: Bob Anderson Republican Party of Iowa

Past Johnson County Caucus Results As provided by parties or reported to press; the Auditor's Office is not responsible for caucus results. The Republican Party does not conduct a presidential preference vote in years when a Republican president is seeking re-election.

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 6, 2012 (born on or before November 6, 1994).  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.

Registering on Caucus Night

Both parties allow voters to register to vote, change address, or change party on caucus night. The parties have different rules.

Both parties printed the lists they will use to check in caucus attendees in mid-November. You may always register to vote or update your address or party with our office. However, if your name does not appear on your precinct's pre-printed list, both parties will require you to fill out a new registration form, even if you show a voter card with your address or party already updated.

If you are registering or updating your registration, Republicans will require a photo ID and proof of residence such as a bill or government letter. See the rules for Election Day Registration for examples. Democrats will not require ID.

Locations

Because of the early date, both parties held their caucuses in the "old" precincts established in 2001. New precincts did not become effective until January 15, 2012.

The parties set their own caucus sites. It is possible that the Democratic and Republican caucuses for your precinct were at different locations, and it is likely that your caucus site was different than your polling place. Complete List of Locations

Guests may attend the caucuses to observe but may not participate. Both parties have youth participation programs for persons who will not be 18 by November 6, 2012; 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.

• Republican National Convention, August 27-30, 2012, Tampa.
• Democratic National Convention, September 3-6, 2012, Charlotte.

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 2008 and 2010 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. Democrats can break into preference groups in any caucus year, including years when incumbent Democratic presidents seek re-election (1980, 1996, 2012). 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.

The Republican Party conducts a straw poll for President by secret ballot in years when the nomination is contested. Republicans do not have a preference vote in years when Republican presidents seek re-election (1984, 1992, 2004). The whole caucus then elects delegates and alternates to the county convention.

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, as allocated to each group.  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.