Iowa Democrats release draft of delegate selection plan

DES MOINES, Iowa (KCCI) - The Iowa Democratic Party is scrapping its traditional caucus structure of making a presidential pick in-person in favor of a mail-in structure, according to a draft of the Iowa Democratic Party delegate selection plan released Wednesday morning.

Under the new selection plan, Iowa Democrats would request a presidential preference card through the mail or online. They would then have a window of time to fill out the card and mail it in or drop it off at available secure drop-box locations.

The 2024 in-person democratic caucuses would not offer the ability to express presidential preference, instead focusing solely on party business.

The Iowa Democratic Party says it plans to hire a professional election vendor to handle mailing out the presidential preference cards to people who request them.

The plan does not include dates for when the presidential preference cards would be mailed out, or deadlines for when they would need to be completed and returned, or when Democrats would release the results.

However, Iowa Democrats plan to release that information no later than 90 days before the caucuses.

The new plan comes after the Democratic National Committee voted in February to strip Iowa of its first-in-the-nation status, selecting South Carolina to hold the first spot. The state of Iowa had held first-in-the-nation status for decades.

However, despite losing that status, Iowa law requires the caucuses to be held at least eight days earlier than any other state’s first vote. But it doesn’t specify any consequences if Iowa doesn’t go first.

Iowa Democrats have said they still intend to follow state law, holding the caucus at the font of the election calendar.

The DNC has said it plans to punish any state that breaks their new rules by removing half of its delegates to the national convention.

See the full plan here.

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