"... beginning at 7:00 p.m. ... there shall be held ... a party caucus ... The chairs of the two largest major political parties shall jointly submit to the secretary of state, no later than March 1 of each odd-numbered year, the single date on which the two parties have agreed to conduct their precinct caucuses ... If the chairs of the two largest major political parties do not jointly submit a single date for conducting their precinct caucuses ... the first Tuesday in February shall be considered the day of a major political party precinct caucus." [Minnesota Statutes 202A.14 § Subdivision 1. (a), (b)(1), (3)]

Participants in the Precinct Caucuses must consider themselves a member of the DFL Party and not an active member of any other political party.

Tuesday 1 March 2016: Minnesota Precinct Caucuses. Hours 6:30p-8:00p CST (0030-0200 UTC). Delegate Pledging: Proportional Caucus/Convention. Voter Eligibility: Open Caucus/Convention.

Precinct Caucuses
Source: Minnesota Secretary of State.
Status: Official. Retrieved: Wednesday 27 July 2016.
Included in Nationwide vote.

Tuesday 1 March 2016: First Level Precinct Caucuses. The caucuses elect delegates to the Organizing Unit Conventions. A Presidential Preference ballot is taken from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. "Uncommitted" appears on the ballot and write-ins are allowed.

77 of 93 delegates to the Democratic National Convention are pledged to presidential contenders based on the results of the voting in the Minnesota Minnesota Precinct Caucuses. A mandatory 15 percent threshold is required in order for a presidential contender to be pledged National Convention delegates at either the congressional district or statewide level. How the Democratic Proportional Delegate Allocation Math works.

• 50 district delegates are to be pledged proportionally to presidential contenders based on the results from the Conventions in each of the State's 8 congressional districts.
• In addition, 27 delegates are to be pledged to presidential contenders based statewide results of the caucuses.
  • 17 at-large National Convention delegates
  • 10 Pledged PLEOs

Precinct Caucuses
Source: Minnesota Democratic-Farmer Labor Party.
Status: Official. Retrieved: Friday 4 March 2016.

"Minnesota is a caucus/convention state that utilizes a binding ballot taken at the precinct caucuses and affirmed at the Organizing Unit Convention." [Delegate Selection Plan, Section III.A.6.a.]

Delegates may not change their Presidential preference unless their candidate is no longer a candidate. Uncommitted delegates may change their Presidential preference, but once they declare they may not change their preference again unless their candidate is no longer a candidate.

These precinct meetings make up what is generally known as a "firehouse primary": during Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party precinct meetings- in which local party officers are elected and delegates are chosen for the party's county and higher tier conventions (organizational bodies having nothing directly to do with the pledging of National Convention delegates to presidential contenders [although these later meetings will choose the actual delegates themselves]).

Saturday 12 March - Sunday 17 April 2016 (presumably): Second Level Organizing Unit Conventions elect delegates to the Congressional District and State Conventions.

Saturday 30 April - Sunday 29 May 2016 (presumably): Third Level Congressional District Conventions. National Convention District delegates are elected according to the Presidential Preferences expressed at the Precinct Caucuses.

Saturday 4 June 2016 (presumably): Fourth Level State Convention.

National Convention Pledged PLEO and At-Large delegates are elected according to the Presidential Preferences expressed at the Precinct Caucuses.

The remaining 16 National Convention delegates consist of

• 16 Unpledged PLEO delegates:
• 7 Democratic National Committee members.
• 7 Members of Congress (2 Senators and 5 Representatives).
• 1 Governor.
• 1 Distinguished Party Leader (former Vice President Walter "Fritz" Mondale).

These 16 delegates and will go to the Democratic National Convention officially "Unpledged".

On 14 February 2015, Minnesota Democratic-Farmer Labor and the Republican Party of Minnesota set 1 March 2016 as the joint date for their Precinct Caucuses.

SF 1205, introduced by Republican state Senators Julianne E. Ortman, Scott J. Newman, Karin Housley, Eric R. Pratt, and John C. Pederson on 26 February 2015, would move the state's partisan Primary from 2nd Tuesday in August and create concurrent partisan and Presidential Primaries on the last Tuesday in March (29 March 2016).

HF 1567, introduced by state Representative Joe Hoppe (Republican) on 9 March 2015, is identical to SF 1205.

On 20 May 2016, Governor Mark Dayton (Democratic) signed SF 2985 which established a Presidential Primary for 2020. "(a) A presidential ... primary must be held each year in which a president ... [is] to be ... elected. (b) The party chairs must jointly submit to the secretary of state, no later than March 1 in a year prior ... the single date on which the parties have agreed to conduct the presidential ... primary ... 1. If a date is not jointly submitted by the deadline, the presidential nomination primary must be held on the 1st Tuesday in March ... No other election may be conducted on the date of the presidential nomination primary." [Session Law Chapter: 162] [Minnesota Statutes 2014, section 207A.11, signed by the Governor 20 May 2016, effective 1 July 2017]