Iowa Democrats plan to hold six “virtual” meetings next year for Democrats who cannot attend the precinct caucuses on the evening of February 3rd. Democrats will still calculate the winner based on how many convention delegates each presidential candidate secures, but for the first time, the raw vote totals each candidate gets will be tallied and released.
That’s Iowa Democratic Party chairman Troy Price. Price describes the plan as an “Iowa solution” that preserves the fundamentals of the caucuses.
The raw vote totals will be kept, in case the race for delegates is close enough a candidate could request a recount. The “virtual” caucuses are scheduled to begin in late January, at different start times to accommodate shift workers, single mothers, disabled Iowans and others with Caucus night conflicts. Participants will use an electronic device, like a smart phone, to rank their top five candidate choices.
The Iowa G-O-P has always conducted what amounts to a statewide straw poll to determine the presidential candidate who wins the Caucuses rather than the delegate math angle Iowa Democrats use.
