Iowa Caucus 2020 has been in the news since Election Night 2016 and now it is finally here!

Registered Democrat and Republican voters will be holding their caucus events on Monday, Feb. 3 at 7 p.m. throughout Iowa’s 99 counties at 1,678 precincts.

On the Republican side, President Donald J. Trump has two challengers, Joe Walsh, former US Rep from Illinois and former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld.

The Democrat field is more crowded with 12 possible candidates vying to garner 15 percent of the vote in order to qualify for the Democrat National Committee’s threshold that will keep them in the race going forward.

The Democrat candidates include:  Joe Biden, former US Vice President; Elizabeth Warren, US Sen. from Massachusetts; Bernie Sanders, US Sen. from Vermont who is a registered Independent but is a member of the US Senate Democratic Caucus; Pete Buttigieg, Mayor of South Bend, Indiana; Tulsi Gabbard, US Rep. from Hawaii; Andrew Yang, New York entrepreneur and former tech executive; Michael Bloomberg, former New York City mayor and media mogul; Amy Klobuchar, US Sen. from Minnesota; Tom Steyer, former hedge fund manager and current environmentalist; John Delaney, former US Rep. from Maryland; Michael Bennet, US Sen. from Colorado; and Patrick Deval, former Massachusetts Governor.

Hamilton County locations for the Democrat Caucuses are:

• Pct 1: Activity Room, Trinity Lutheran Church, Webster City

• Pct 2: Williams Public Library

• Pct 3: Stratford Elementary School

• Pct 4: Media Center, South Hamilton High School, Jewell

• Pct 5: Ellsworth Public Library.

• Webster City 1: Pleasant View School, WC

• Webster City 2: Sanctuary, Trinity Lutheran Church, WC

• Webster City 3: Sunset Heights Elementary School, WC

To find your caucus location, contact 515 832-9510 or log on to https://iowademocrats.org/2020-caucuses/

Hamilton County locations for the Republican caucus open at 5:30 p.m. but voting will begin at 7 p.m.  Locations are:

• Pct 1: RSVP, 749 Second Street, Webster City, upper and lower levels

• Pct. 2: NEH School cafeteria

• Pct. 3: Stanhope Community Center

• Pct. 4: South Hamilton Elementary School cafeteria

• Pct. 5: Trinity Lutheran Church Fellowship Hall in Ellsworth

• Webster City 1: Webster City High School cafeteria

• Webster City 2: Webster City Middle School Commons

• Webster City 3: Hamilton County Extension Office

New procedures

For Caucus 2020, the Iowa Democrat Party is rolling out new voting procedures in an effort to streamline the caucus and offer an opportunity that all votes be counted.

Caucus voters whose candidate has reached the 15 percent threshold can leave following the first-round vote tally.  But other candidate supporters can align with another candidate in order to consolidate their votes during the realignment period.  

All votes will be cast on paper ballots in order to provide a record in the event that recounts are necessary.

The IDP has also instituted Satellite Caucuses, designed to give all voters an opportunity to participate when they are unable to attend the actual caucus.

According to the Iowa Democrat Party, Iowa Democrats will be caucusing at 97 locations which includes 69 sites in-state, 25 out-of-state sites across 13 other states and at three international satellite sites.  These sites will be run the same as at the regular caucus locations and will be reported as an additional county, bringing the total number of reporting counties to 104.  In-state caucuses will be reported by congressional district while the out-of-state and international sites will be reported by statewide turn-out.