Democratic Caucuses

The Democratic caucus is a truly unique system. After voters convene at their precinct's meeting place, up to 30 minutes is allotted for the voters to form candidate "preference groups." Unlike the Republican process, Democratic caucus-goers make their candidate choice known publicly. 

• Each preference group will identify like-minded supporters and meet or "caucus." After this initial period has expired, each candidate group will report how many supporters there are for their candidate. If a candidate has at least 15 percent of the total number of caucus-goers, he or she is ruled "viable," while candidate groups not reaching the threshold do not reach viability and must dissolve. 

• An additional time, up to 30 minutes, is allowed for supporters of non-viable candidates or undecided voters to join a viable preference group. During this time, voters directly interact to convince others to support their candidate, often with the help of a precinct captain, a volunteer from the precinct representing a campaign. 

• Depending on the number of county delegates coming from a precinct, which is derived from a precinct's population, delegate spots will be divided amongst viable candidates based on the amount of their support. County delegates are selected directly by members of candidate preference groups.

• The Iowa Democratic Party does not release the total number of individual voters committed to a candidate, rather only the projected county convention delegate totals for each candidate.