Step
1 - Democratic party members will meet in one of the 1,781
precincts
in Iowa, which are designated schools, public buildings, and private homes to elect caucus delegates.
To determine meeting locations, individuals may contact their County
Party Chair or State Party Headquarters.
Contact County
Party Chairs.
Contact State
Party Headquarters. Step
2 - At the individual Democratic caucus meetings, individuals will gather in
separate groups according to which candidate they are
supporting. Those who are undecided will be asked to join one of
the groups already formed.
Step 3 - These caucus
meetings will determine
the popularity of each candidate and will decide which candidates are
to be retained and which are to be eliminated. Only candidates
receiving 15% support from the individuals in the meeting will be
eligible for the candidacy. Individuals supporting a candidate
who received less than 15% support will be asked to join one of the
other groups.
Step 4 - This procedure of
determining the percentage of support for each candidate may take some
discussion
until the process of elimination leaves a handful of candidates with no less then 15%
support. This number will be broken
down based upon the number of delegates that this particular caucus is
representing. For instance, if a caucus is heavily populated, there
may be 4 or more delegates to be elected, and so a group would need 15% of the
participants in
that caucus in order to qualify; If a caucus is electing only 2 delegates,
a group would need 25% to qualify; and if a caucus is electing only 1
delegate, a group would need 50% of the
participants to qualify.
Step 5 - The results of the percentages
received and the number of caucus delegates for all of the meetings
held that night are reported to party
headquarters. From there, the figures are tabulated to determine
in rank order the candidates with the most caucus
delegates. This concludes the Democratic participation in the caucuses.
Next, the
Democratic party will begin the process of selecting the 56 delegates that will
represent the state of Iowa.
Step 6 -
After the caucuses in
each county, a County Convention will be held to
select the delegates for the District Convention. Again, at this level,
they will use the 15% rule, which stipulates 15% of the delegates are
needed in order to consider a candidate viable. (This was
completed on March 15 with most delegates reaffirming Obama as the
leader)
Step 7 -
After the County Convention, a District Convention will be held in
which all of the counties in that district will select the delegates,
of which there are 29 total for the state. Again, the 15% rule to determine
viable candidates will be followed.
Step 8 - The State
of Iowa Democratic Convention will convene to select the delegates who
will represent the candidates in the National Convention, again using the 15% rule
of support. The State Convention, at this time, will
prepare a total of 56 delegates for the National Convention, at which
the official Presidential Candidate for the Democratic party will be
decided.
Additional
Democratic Resources:
The Green Papers - Democrats
http://www.thegreenpapers.com/P08/IA-D.phtml
MSNBC
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3926132
Answers.com - Iowa
Caucus - Democrats
http://www.answers.com/topic/iowa-caucus
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Step
1 - Republican party members will meet in one of the 1,784 precincts
in Iowa, which are designated schools, public buildings, and private
homes to elect caucus delegates. To determine meeting locations,
individuals may contact their County Party Chair or State Party
Headquarters.
Contact County
Party Chairs.
Contact State
Party Headquarters.
Step 2 - At the individual
Republican caucus meetings, a straw poll is taken by secret ballot to
influence the delegate.
Step 3 - One person
= one vote. The straw poll is an informal type
of voting where the local votes are tabulated to gauge opinion.
Step 4 -
The tabulated votes from the local precinct straw polls are sent to the state party headquarters
to announce the winner of the straw poll popular vote, and hopefully
influence the selection of delegates. This concludes the Republican participation in the caucuses.
Next, the
Republican party will begin the process of selecting the 41 delegates that will
represent the state of Iowa.
Step 5 - After the caucuses in each county, a County Convention
will be held to select the delegates for the
District Convention, using the influence of the straw poll as a
guide.
Step 6 - After the
County
Convention, a District Convention will be held in which all of the counties in that political district
will decide on
just 3 delegates to represent each district. There are 6
districts in
Iowa for a total of 18 delegates.
Step 7 -
The State of Iowa Republican Convention will decide upon a total of 23 more
delegates, along with the 3 additional delegates per district, for a
sum total of 41 delegates who will represent the candidates in the
National Convention, at which the official Presidential Candidate for
the Republican party will be decided.
Additional
Republican Resources:
The Green Papers -
Republicans
http://www.thegreenpapers.com/P08/IA-R.phtml
HotlineBlog
http://hotlineblog.nationaljournal.com
Answers.com - Iowa
Caucus - Republicans
http://www.answers.com/topic/iowa-caucus
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