What you need to know to participate in the 2024 Iowa caucuses

 What you need to know to participate in the 2024 Iowa caucuses

 JANUARY 15, 2024

instead, Republican caucusgoers will choose candidates via secret ballot. Many precincts will have participants write down their candidate of choice on a slip of paper, but caucus locations have printed ballots featuring top candidates and a write-in option.

Iowa Democrats planning to participate in the presidential caucus system do not have to attend the in-person events to participate. Instead, people registered as Iowa Democratic voters can request to be mailed presidential preference cards that are being mailed beginning Friday through Feb. 19.

The state Democratic Party will accept presidential preference cards by mail that are postmarked on or before March 5. The new system — and loss of their place as first-in-the-nation in 2024, are the results of a lengthy process by the Democratic National Committee to restructure the party’s presidential nominating calendar.

Iowans who cast a ballot in the Republican caucuses are not allowed to also participate in the Democratic presidential preference vote.

The DNC designated South Carolina’s primary to kick off the 2024 nominating cycle, but the New Hampshire primary is set to be the first — unsanctioned — Democratic presidential contest on Jan. 23. The South Carolina Democratic primary will take place Feb. 3.

When will we know the results?

State GOP officials announced plans to report results on caucus night using a web-based app. There are designated result reporters at each caucus location who will go through a three-stage process for submitting and recording results. The results will go through an internal verification process by state party staff before the results are available publicly.

While reported results will be available on caucus night, the Iowa Republican Party will not declare an official winner of the Iowa Republican caucuses. The caucus results are used to allocate Iowa’s 40 delegates to support candidates at the July 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.