The Green Papers
2020 Presidential Primaries, Caucuses, and Conventions
 
Copyright www.flags.net/UNST.htm Iowa Democrat
Presidential Nominating Process
Precinct Caucuses: Monday 3 February 20201
County Conventions: Saturday 21 March 2020
District Conventions: Saturday 25 April 2020
State Convention: Saturday 13 June 2020
Democrats
CandidateDelegate Votes
Hard TotalFloor
Biden, Joseph Robinette "Joe", Jr.6  12.24%38  77.55%
Sanders, Bernard "Bernie"12  24.49%11  22.45%
Buttigieg, Peter Paul Montgomery "Pete"14  28.57% 
Klobuchar, Amy Jean1   2.04% 
Warren, Elizabeth Ann8  16.33% 
(available)8  16.33% 
Total49 100.00%49 100.00%

States Chronologically   States Alphabetically
 
Democratic Convention
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Republican Convention
AK AL AR AS AZ CA CO CT DC DE FL GA GU HI IA ID IL IN KS KY LA MA MD ME MI MN MO MP MS MT NC ND NE NH NJ NM NV NY OH OK OR PA PR RI SC SD TN TX UT VA VI VT WA WI WV WY
 
Iowa Primaries for Statewide offices and Congress
 
Iowa State and Local Government

 
 

11 February 2019: The Iowa Democratic Party proposed that the caucuses allow Democrats to vote absentee or virtual. However, on 29 August 2019, citing security concerns, the DNC disapproved.

Iowa Delegate Selection Plan from the Iowa Democratic Party.

Iowa Caucuses from the Iowa Democratic Party.

The results of the 3 February Precinct causes are expected to be certified by 29 February 2020.

Precinct caucus Results from the Iowa Democratic Party.

Precinct caucus results from The New York Times.

10 February 2020: Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg requested a partial recanvass of the Iowa Caucuses results. No timeframe for the certification was provided by the party. The recanvass was completed on 18 February. The delegate allocations were not changed.


   

Monday 3 February 2020: Iowa Precinct Caucuses. Hours begin at 7:00p CST (0100 UTC). Delegate Pledging: Proportional Caucus/Convention. Voter Eligibility: Closed Caucus/Convention.

Precinct Caucuses First Expression of Preference
Not used for delegate computation.
Source: Iowa Democratic Party.
Status: Official. Retrieved: Thursday 27 February 2020.
Excluded from Nationwide vote.

CandidatePop
Vote
%
Bernard "Bernie" Sanders43,58124.85%
Peter Paul Montgomery "Pete" Buttigieg37,57221.43%
Elizabeth Ann Warren32,58918.59%
Joseph Robinette "Joe" Biden, Jr.26,29114.99%
Amy Jean Klobuchar22,45412.81%
Andrew Yang8,9145.08%
Thomas Fahr "Tom" Steyer3,0611.75%
Tulsi Gabbard3410.19%
Michael Rubens "Mike" Bloomberg2120.12%
Michael Farrand Bennet1640.09%
Other1550.09%
Deval Laurdine Patrick90.01%
John Kevin Delaney00.00%
Total175,343100.00%
 

Precinct Caucuses Final Expression of Preference
Not used for delegate computation.
Source: Iowa Democratic Party.
Status: Official. Retrieved: Thursday 27 February 2020.
Included in Nationwide vote.

CandidatePop
Vote
%
Bernard "Bernie" Sanders45,65226.72%
Peter Paul Montgomery "Pete" Buttigieg43,20925.29%
Elizabeth Ann Warren34,90920.43%
Joseph Robinette "Joe" Biden, Jr.23,60513.81%
Amy Jean Klobuchar21,10012.35%
Andrew Yang1,7581.03%
Thomas Fahr "Tom" Steyer4130.24%
Other1980.12%
Michael Rubens "Mike" Bloomberg160.01%
Tulsi Gabbard160.01%
Michael Farrand Bennet40.00%
John Kevin Delaney00.00%
Deval Laurdine Patrick00.00%
Total170,880100.00%
 

Precinct Caucuses
Source: Iowa Democratic Party.
Status: Official. Retrieved: Thursday 27 February 2020.
Excluded from Nationwide vote.

CandidateState
Delegate
Equivalents
%
Peter Paul Montgomery "Pete" Buttigieg562.953826.22%
Bernard "Bernie" Sanders562.021426.18%
Elizabeth Ann Warren388.440318.09%
Joseph Robinette "Joe" Biden, Jr.340.323815.85%
Amy Jean Klobuchar263.868912.29%
Andrew Yang21.85591.02%
Thomas Fahr "Tom" Steyer6.61890.31%
Other0.69310.03%
Michael Rubens "Mike" Bloomberg0.20960.01%
Tulsi Gabbard0.11430.01%
Michael Farrand Bennet0.00000.00%
John Kevin Delaney0.00000.00%
Deval Laurdine Patrick0.00000.00%
Total2,147.1000100.00%
 

Democratic Party Caucuses meet in each precinct at 7 PM CST. Absentee or proxy voting is not allowed. Each Precinct Caucus chooses the precinct's delegates to the County Conventions based on presidential preference.

Satellite caucuses add additional locations for those cannot attend the in-person precinct caucus. Iowa Democrats can apply to hold a satellite at places such as factories, group homes, or community gathering facilities. Satellite caucuses are tallied as one additional county in each Congressional District. There is an out-of-state "At-Large" Satellite caucus whose votes are applied to the statewide delegates only.

  • 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 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.

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.

41 National Convention delegates are allocated from the state delegate equivalency results of the precinct caucuses. In addition, the first and last expression of preference are recorded.

How the Democratic Proportional Delegate Allocation Math works.

Precinct Caucuses
National Convention District Delegates
(excludes At-Large Satellite Caucus)
Source: Iowa Democratic Party.
Status: Official. Retrieved: Thursday 27 February 2020.

ContestButtigiegSandersWarrenBidenKlobuchar
 State
Delegate
Equivalents
Votes
Qualified
State
Delegate
Equivalents
Votes
DelState
Delegate
Equivalents
Votes
AllocDelState
Delegate
Equivalents
Votes
AllocDelState
Delegate
Equivalents
Votes
AllocDelState
Delegate
Equivalents
Votes
AllocDelState
Delegate
Equivalents
Votes
AllocDel
CD1564.7484491.46187147.81632.1052145.29172.069295.56021.3611102.79361.464266.7423  
CD2554.2580413.33007143.32232.4272157.18562.6623112.82211.911272.7595  58.9573  
CD3609.9859535.38588164.23892.4543159.27012.3802119.06561.779292.81121.387169.7616  
CD4418.1077348.21755107.57631.5452100.27401.440160.9924  71.95951.033168.40770.9821
Total
Delegates
  27  9  8  5  4  1

 

Precinct Caucuses
National Convention Statewide Delegates
(includes At-Large Satellite Caucus)
Source: Iowa Democratic Party.
Status: Official. Retrieved: Thursday 27 February 2020.

ContestButtigiegSandersWarrenBiden
 State
Delegate
Equivalents
Votes
Qualified
State
Delegate
Equivalents
Votes
DelState
Delegate
Equivalents
Votes
AllocDelState
Delegate
Equivalents
Votes
AllocDelState
Delegate
Equivalents
Votes
AllocDelState
Delegate
Equivalents
Votes
AllocDel
PLEO2,147.10001,853.73935562.95381.5182562.02141.5161388.44031.0481340.32380.9181
At-Large2,147.10001,853.73939562.95382.7333562.02142.7293388.44031.8862340.32381.6521
Total
Delegates
  14  5  4  3  2
 

Saturday 21 March 2020: County Conventions convene in each county to choose Congressional District delegates of which the county is a part as well as the county's delegates the Iowa State Democratic Convention.

13 March 2020: "Today, the Iowa Democratic Party is announcing it will postpone County Conventions to a future date to be determined. After extensive consultation with County Chairs, the State Central Committee, party leaders, and public health officials, we have come to the determination that the spreading coronavirus poses a risk that outweighs a temporary delay in moving the caucus-to-convention process forward."

 

Saturday 25 April 2020: Democratic Party District Conventions convene in each congressional district at 9:00am to elect the district's delegates to the Democratic National Convention according to the results of the precinct caucuses.

 

Having withdrawn, the 8 statewide delegates (5 At-Large and 3 Pledged PLEO), awarded to Buttigieg and Warren have been awarded to Biden. As of 6 June 2020, we are uncertain of the standing of the statewide Sanders delegates.

Saturday 13 June 2020: The Iowa State Democratic Convention convenes at 9am CDT. The State Convention elects the 9 At-Large and 5 PLEO of the Iowa's Pledged delegates to the Democratic National Convention according to the results of the precinct caucuses.

The remaining 8 National Convention delegates consist of

  • 8 Unpledged PLEO delegates:
    • 5 Democratic National Committee members.
    • 3 Members of Congress (0 Senators and 3 Representatives).
    • 0 Governors.
    • 0 Distinguished Party Leaders.

These 8 delegates and will go to the Democratic National Convention officially "Unpledged".

 

Notes

Primary dates marked "presumably" and polling times marked "reportedly" are based on unofficial or estimated data (especially as regards local variations from a jurisdictionwide statutory and/or regulatory standard) and are, thereby, subject to change.

1 Democratic Party's "First Determining Step" of the delegate selection process.

 

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  Election 2020 - Presidential Primary, Caucus, and Convention Home  
 
  Presidential Candidates  
 
  States Alphabetically  
  Events Chronologically  
  Major Events Chronologically  
  Democratic "First Determining Step" Chronologically  
  Poll Closing Times Chronologically   --   Poll Closing Times Alphabetically  
 
  Chronological Cumulative Allocation of Delegates  
  Weekly Delegate Distribution and Availability  
 
Delegate Counts
  Democratic Pledged and Unpledged Summary   --   Republican Pledged and Unpledged Summary  
  Democratic Hard and Soft Summary   --   Republican Hard and Soft Summary  
  Democratic Hard and Floor Summary   --   Republican Hard and Floor Summary  
Commentary: THE TIES THAT BIND-- OR DO THEY? or, Politicus Unbound
 
Delegate Allocation
  Democratic Quick Reference   --   Republican Quick Reference  
  The Math Behind the Democratic Delegate Allocation   --   The Math Behind the Republican Delegate Allocation  
  Democratic Timing Penalties and Bonuses  
 
  Democratic Delegate Pledging and Voter Eligibility   --   Republican Delegate Selection and Voter Eligibility  
 
  Primaries at a Glance  
 
  Results Status and Date Retrieved  
....
  Estimating the Delegate Count  
....

 
Documentation
  Historical Analysis of the Presidential Nominating Process  
  Historical Analysis of the apportionment of delegate votes at the National Conventions of the two major parties  
  Primary/Caucus/Convention Glossary  
  Statutory Election Information of the Several states / Presidential Primary  
  Dates of PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARIES re: selection and/or allocation/distribution of Delegates to Major Party National Conventions  
 
  Major Third Party Presidential Nomination Process  
 
  Straw Polls  
 
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