In order to participate in Iowa’s first-in-the-nation presidential precinct caucuses tonight, you not only have to be registered to vote, but you have to declare a party affiliation. Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate is the state’s commissioner of elections, and has new numbers about voter registration. So who has the edge, Republicans or Democrats?……

The latest numbers show 727,000 Iowans are registered as independents – that’s 112,000 more than registered Republicans, and 141,000 thousand more than Democrats.
Caucus rules allow voters to change their party affiliation at the site of the caucus, so those independents are still targeted by candidates. Pate believe many of those independents actually do align themselves with one of the two major parties…….

Iowa’s motor voter laws allow a person to register to vote at the same time they get or renew their driver’s licenses. The state’s new on-line voter registration system has been popular as well, with more than 5,300 people registering to vote on-line in January alone.