Iowa Republican Party leaders have unanimously decided to hold a straw poll, with the Iowa G-O-P’s chairman stressing it is a “snapshot” of the presidential race with “no binding effect” on the Iowa Caucuses. The Iowa G-O-P’s state central committee took a vote Saturday morning.

Iowa G-O-P chairman Jeff Kaufmann told reporters he hopes to nail down the when and where within a month, but the Iowa Straw Poll will be held somewhere in central Iowa, sometime in August. He says the three likely venues are the Iowa State Fair, the fields near Boone where the Farm Progress Show is held every other year and the Iowa State University campus in Ames, where the past six Straw Poll events have been held.

Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition president Steve Scheffler (SHEFF-ler) is one of Iowa’s representatives on the Republican National Committee. He’s also a voting member of the Iowa G-O-P’s state central committee and an advocate of continuing the Iowa Straw Poll.

Over a year ago, Governor Terry Branstad suggested it was time to retire the Iowa Straw Poll after critics warned it endangered the status of Iowa’s first-in-the-nation Caucuses. National party leaders assured Iowa G-O-P leaders that was not the case and Branstad issued a written statement Saturday afternoon saying he looks forward to working with Iowa G-O-P leaders to make this summer’s Iowa Straw Poll “a successful event.”