Monday is Iowa’s big day

Posted 1/29/20

The 2020 presidential election gets underway in earnest on Monday night with Iowa’s first-in-the-nation party caucuses.

Voters across the state will gather for local caucuses to select their …

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Monday is Iowa’s big day

Posted

The 2020 presidential election gets underway in earnest on Monday night with Iowa’s first-in-the-nation party caucuses.

Voters across the state will gather for local caucuses to select their preference for their party’s nominee.

Only voters who are registered with a specific party may participate in their party’s caucus.

Sue Meeks of the Washington County auditor’s office said that voters may change party affiliation at the caucus check-in but recommended that anyone doing that bring a completed voter registration form with them.

“That way they aren’t holding up the line at check-in,” Meeks said.

One thing the Democratic Party is doing this year to speed up the registration process is allowing early check-in online prior to the caucus. Instructions can be found on the state party website, IowaDemocrats.org.

“I encourage as many people as possible to do that,” Jon Green, temporary chair for the Lone Tree caucuses, said. “You print off a sheet from your computer and show up at the caucus; you don’t have to get in line. You go straight to the front of the line, show them your piece of paper and you are immediately admitted.”

This year, Democrats have a wide field of candidates from which to choose.

For the Democratic caucuses, voters gather at their designated caucus location and divide into groups based on which candidate they support – or remain undecided.

Each group is counted to determine if the candidate is “viable,” meaning the candidate has a minimum of 15% of the voters at the caucus.

Supporters of “unviable” candidates can either change their support to another candidate or attempt to convince supporters of other candidates to move to their candidate.

This cycle continues until all remaining candidates have reached the 15% threshold, at which time another count is done to award delegates to candidates based on the number of supporters they have.

Area Democratic caucus locations are:

• Kalona – Mid-Prairie Middle School cafeteria.

• Wellman – Parkside Recreation Center.

• Riverside – Highland Elementary School gym.

• Lone Tree/Fremont – Lone Tree Elementary School cafeteria.

• West Chester – West Chester Old Heritage Building.

• Washington Township – Mid-Prairie Home School Education Center (former Washington Township School).

• Sharon Township – Hills Elementary School gym.

The race for the Republican nomination is less crowded.

President Donald Trump is facing two long-shot challengers: Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld and former U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh from Illinois, a conservative radio host.

Several state Republican parties plan to cancel their primaries and caucuses with an incumbent Republican president.

However, last fall, Iowa Republican leaders announced they would go ahead with caucuses.

Iowa Republican caucuses involve voters casing a secret ballot at the caucus location to determine a candidate’s delegates.

Area Republican caucus locations are:

• Kalona – Mid-Prairie East Elementary School.

• Wellman – Goodwin Senior Center.

• Riverside – Riverside City Hall.

• Lone Tree/Fremont – Lone Tree school library.

• West Chester – Wagon Wheel Winery.

• Washington Township – Mid-Prairie Home School Education Center (former Washington Township School).

• Sharon Township – Sharon United Methodist Church.

Caucuses begin at 7 p.m.