Here's how Iowa Republican caucusgoers vote for their preferred presidential candidate
When the Iowa caucuses begin at 8 p.m. ET tonight, Republican caucusgoers will have an opportunity to listen to optional speeches from candidate representatives and then will vote for their preferred presidential candidate.
Then it’s down to business.
Here are key things to know about that vote — and how it works:
- Every precinct can conduct the vote in its own way. The individual caucus chairs are given wide latitude in how to conduct this vote. There is no official ballot or list of authorized candidates. The only requirement is that voting should allow for some type of write-in procedure, because caucusgoers may vote for anyone.
- No walking around and forming groups. Everything you may remember about delegates voting for their candidate by standing up in different corners of the room applies only to the Democratic caucuses — a process even they aren’t using in 2024. Republicans instead hold a simple secret ballot vote that includes no moving around.
- No "viability thresholds" or multiple voting rounds. There’s only one round of voting in the GOP’s presidential preference contest, unlike in Democratic caucuses. This means that a candidate does not need to reach a certain vote threshold. Every caucus participant casts one vote, and that vote is counted in the precinct’s final tally.
- Tabulating the vote. Once all the votes have been cast, the caucus chair or designee will tally the votes and transmit the results, otherwise known as the raw vote tally, to the Republican Party of Iowa’s caucus night headquarters. The Iowa GOP will keep a running tally of precinct results as they are sent in from around the state and release them to the news media throughout the night. This binding presidential preference vote is the only reportable or tangible result that comes out of the GOP caucuses.
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