Military (tele-caucus) and other voters (satellite caucuses) who can not attend the precinct caucuses in person may participate in the 2016 Iowa Caucuses via tele-conference. There will be no absentee or proxy voting at any precinct caucus. The satellite caucuses are allocated 3 delegates and the military tele-caucus is allocated 2 delegates to the state convention.

Monday 1 February 2016 (presumably): Iowa Precinct Caucuses. Delegate Pledging: Proportional Caucus/Convention. Voter Eligibility: Closed Caucus/Convention.

Precinct Caucuses
Source: Iowa Democratic Party.
Status: Official. Retrieved: Sunday 7 February 2016.
Excluded from Nationwide vote.

Monday 1 February 2016 (presumably): Precinct Caucuses. Democratic Party Caucuses meet in each precinct at 7 PM CST. Each Precinct Caucus chooses the precinct's delegates to County Conventions based on presidential preference (which, despite the media circus that quadrennially surrounds this event, is all that will be actually decided at these Iowa caucuses!).

NOTE: Estimates will, of course, be made by media outlets as well as by the campaigns of the presidential contenders themselves as to how many of Iowa's 51 National Convention delegates each presidential contender is likely to be ultimately be receiving as a result of the Iowa caucuses but, of course, since no National Convention delegates are actually being chosen by these caucuses, all such estimates will almost certainly, come the District Conventions in April and the State Convention in June, be wrong!!

• At each caucus, each presidential contender who fails to get at least 15 percent support among the participants in the initial balloting after a period of discussion will be considered "non-viable" and all supporters of such "non-viable" presidential contenders will then be required to join in the support of presidential contenders who have remained "viable". To determine the viability of a presidential contender, multiply the number of eligible caucus attendees by the percentages below and round to the nearest whole number. This is the minimum number of delegates needed for the contender to remain viable.
• 50% (majority vote) for caucuses electing 1 delegate.
• 25% (one quarter) for caucuses electing 2 delegates.
• 16.66...% (one sixth) for caucuses electing 3 delegates.
• 15% for caucuses electing 4 or more delegates.

Example. 57 people attend a caucus electing 3 delegates. The viability is 1/6th of 57 = 9.5 rounded which is 10. Say 29 people support candidate A, 19 support candidate B, and 9 support candidate C. Candidates A and B are viable since they have support of 10 or more of the attendees. Because candidate C did not receive the support of 10 attendees, those supporting candidate C must realign to another candidate. At this point, the attendees realign themselves so 34 support candidate A and 23 support candidate B.

The caucus will next choose the precinct's delegates to the Democratic Convention of the County in which the precinct is located (which is all, despite all the media hoopla, that will be actually decided at the Iowa caucuses!) who will be allocated in proportion to the percentage of the support each "viable" presidential contender received in the second round of balloting at the precinct caucus as of the time of its adjournment. (Estimates will, of course, be made by media outlets as well as the contenders themselves as to how many of Iowa's 51 National Convention delegates each contender will ultimately be receiving but, of course, since NO National Convention delegates are actually being chosen by these caucuses, all such estimates will almost certainly, in the end, be WRONG!!!)."

Continuing the example from above: For Candidate A: 3 (total precinct delegates) × 34 (supporters) ÷ 57 (total attendees) = 1.789 which rounds to 2 precinct delegates. Candidate B receives 3 × 23 ÷ 57 = 1.211 which rounds to 1 precinct delegate. Note: Due to rounding, the sum of precinct delegates may exceed the total number of precinct delegates allocated to the caucus. If this happens, round down the candidate with the smallest fraction. Candidates receiving 1 precinct delegate are not subject to this rule, that is, candidates cannot loose their only precinct delegate during this adjustment.

Here's how we estimate the delegate count based on the votes cast (to elect delegates to the County Conventions) at the Precinct Caucuses. Note that zero national convention delegates are allocated during the Precinct Conventions - national convention delegates are first elected in April.

How the Democratic Proportional Delegate Allocation Math works.

"We are proud of the more than 171,000 Iowa Democrats who came out to caucus on Monday night..." - Iowa Democratic Party.

Precinct Caucuses
National Convention Delegate Estimate
Source: AP Pres Votes by District.
Status: Unofficial. Retrieved: Tuesday 2 February 2016.

Saturday 12 March 2016: County Conventions convene in each county. Each County Convention chooses the county's delegates to both Congressional District Conventions and the Iowa State Convention based on presidential preference. A mandatory 15 percent threshold is required in order for a presidential contender to be viable. Delegates assigned to a non-viable candidate will realign themselves to another candidate. Delegates are not required to align with the presidential preference that elected them at the caucuses.

• Delegates at the county convention who realign with a different presidential preference group shall sign a statement that states: "I now support (candidate) for the Democratic nomination for President" prior to voting for district/state convention delegates.
• County Conventions choose both the county's delegates to the Democratic Party Convention of the Congressional District of which the county is a part as well as the county's delegates the Iowa State Democratic Convention; each presidential contender receives a number of the county's delegates to each respective Convention (District or State) in proportion to the number of county convention delegates supporting said candidate.

Here's how we estimate the delegate count based on the number of delegates elected to the State Convention at the County Conventions. Note that zero national convention delegates are allocated during the County Conventions - national convention delegates are first elected in April.

The count below does not include Satellite Caucuses (Clinton 2, Sanders 1) and Tele-Caucus (Clinton 1, Sanders 1).

County Conventions
National Convention Delegate Estimate
Source: Iowa Democratic Party.
Status: Official. Retrieved: Wednesday 6 April 2016.

Saturday 30 April 2016 (presumably): Democratic Party District Conventions convene in each congressional district to choose the district's delegates to the Democratic National Convention. A mandatory 15 percent threshold is required in order for a presidential contender to be allocated National Convention delegates at the district level.

• Delegates to the District conventions align with a Presidential preference or uncommitted group when they are registered for the convention. Delegates are not required to align with the same Presidential preference as they did at the County Convention. Delegates at the District conventions who realign with a different presidential preference group shall sign a statement that states: "I now support (candidate) for the Democratic nomination for President" prior to voting for National Convention District delegates.
• 29 district delegates are to be pledged proportionally to the number of district convention delegates supporting a Presidential candidate in each Congressional District:

The National Convention District Delegates are elected at the District Conventions.

Therefore, the very first time Democratic National Convention delegates from Iowa will be pledged to presidential contenders officially will be at these Saturday 30 April 2016 (presumably) District Conventions!!

District Conventions
National Convention District Delegates.
National Convention At-Large and PLEO estimated.
Source: Iowa Democratic Party.
Status: Official. Retrieved: Saturday 30 April 2016.

Saturday 18 June 2016 (presumably): The Iowa State Democratic Convention convenes at 9:00am CDT. The State Convention chooses 15 of the Iowa's Pledged delegates to the Democratic National Convention. A mandatory 15 percent threshold is required in order for a presidential contender to be allocated National Convention delegates at the statewide level.

Delegates to the State Convention align with a Presidential preference or uncommitted group when they register at the convention. Delegates are not required to align with the same Presidential preference as they did at the County Convention. Delegates at the District conventions who realign with a different presidential preference group shall sign a statement that states: "I now support (candidate) for the Democratic nomination for President" prior to voting for National Convention At-Large and PLEO delegates.

15 delegates are to be pledged to presidential contenders based the support for the presidential contenders in the State Convention as a whole.

• 9 at-large National Convention delegates
• 6 Pledged PLEOs

The Pledged PLEO and At-Large National Convention Delegates are elected at the State Convention.

State Convention
Source: The Des Moines Register.
Status: Unofficial. Retrieved: Saturday 18 June 2016.

The remaining 7 National Convention delegates consist of

• 7 Unpledged PLEO delegates:
• 6 Democratic National Committee members.
• 1 Member of Congress (0 Senators and 1 Representative).
• 0 Governors.
• 0 Distinguished Party Leaders.

These 7 delegates and will go to the Democratic National Convention officially "Unpledged".

Only as of Saturday 18 June 2016 (presumably) will ALL of Iowa's 51 Democratic National Convention delegates have been allocated: the estimates made re: delegate allocation as a result of the Iowa caucuses will likely not match the presidential preferences and pledges of the National Convention delegates as actually chosen because it is rather probable that the field of Democratic presidential contenders on Saturday 18 June 2016 (presumably) will very well be quite different from the way that same field looked at the time the Iowa Precinct Caucuses had taken place way back in February!

National Convention At-Large Delegates: 5 Clinton, 4 Sanders.

• Michael Fitzgerald (Clinton)
• Josh Hughes (Clinton)
• Christina Blackcloud (Clinton)
• Alexandria Hoskins (Clinton)
• Cindy Pollard (Clinton)
• Eleanore Taft (Sanders)
• Jenny Gernhart (Sanders)
• Victor Zavala-Sanders
• Chris Petersen (Sanders)

National Convention PLEO (Party Leader Elected Officials) Delegates: 3 Clinton, 3 Sanders

• Som Baccam (Clinton)
• Tom H/arkin (Clinton)
• Rob Hogg (Clinton)
• Brian Gerjets (Sanders)
• Mary Hoyer (Sanders)
• Brent Oleson (Sanders)