How the Iowa Caucuses Work

All eyes are on Iowa.

On Monday, Iowans will travel to individual precinct locations in each of the state’s 99 counties. The caucuses take place beginning at 7 p.m. local time, and individuals must be Iowa residents to participate. 

The leading Republican candidates to be voted on are former President Donald Trump, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.

But how do caucuses work? 

Iowa voters must attend in person to participate. There are no voting booths. Instead, caucuses can be thought of as community meetings. Caucuses are held by political parties, whereas primaries are conducted by state governments. 

Caucuses kick off at precincts with a representative of each candidate delivering a speech. That’s a final pitch to persuade caucusgoers to back a specific candidate.

After the speeches, in the case of the Republican caucuses, Iowans then vote on a secret paper ballot. Democratic caucuses are different in that individuals move around the room and form groups based on their candidate of choice. This year, according to The Associated Press, Democratic Iowa caucuses will be held for administrative party business only and to begin choosing delegates to send to the national convention.

After Republicans cast their secret ballots on Monday night, the votes will then be counted and recorded, and the results sent to the Iowa Republican Party. The state’s 40 delegates are then divided among the candidates based on the number of votes each candidate received. 

The entire process usually takes about two hours, but that varies, depending on the size of the precinct. A winner is expected to be known Monday night. 

On this week’s edition of the “Problematic Women” podcast, we discuss the upcoming Iowa caucuses before Sarah Parshall Perry, a senior legal fellow at The Heritage Foundation, explains three of the big Supreme Court cases to watch this term. First, she breaks down Trump’s fight to get his name back on the ballot in Colorado and how the ruling in that case will determine whether the former president is on the ballot in states across the country. 

Perry also explains how two abortion cases at the Supreme Court stand to affect the safety of women and the unborn. 

Also on today’s show, we discuss why the National Park Service was preparing to remove a statue of the historical figure William Penn in Philadelphia, and why it suddenly changed course. And as always, we crown our “Problematic Woman of the Week.”

Listen to the podcast below: