Parties will hold caucuses Monday evening

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

There won’t be the national attention that accompanies the Iowa caucuses in a presidential election year, but Iowa’s political parties will gather to caucus on Monday evening, Feb. 5, just the same.

If you reside in Floyd County, it doesn’t matter in which city or precinct you live — all the caucuses will be held at the same locations:

• Democratic Party — All Floyd County precincts will meet at the Charles City Public Library, 106 Milwaukee Mall, Charles City. For more Democratic caucus information go to iowademocrats.org.

• Republican Party — All county precincts will meet at the Washington School cafeteria and gym, 1406 N. Grand Ave., Charles City. For more Republican caucus information go to www.iowagop.org.

Doors open for registration at 6 p.m. and caucuses begin at 7 p.m.

The Libertarian Party also has status as an “official” political party in Iowa because the party’s presidential candidate, Gary Johnson, received more than 2 percent of the vote in the 2016 election (he actually received 3.8 percent).

The status gives the party the ability to participate in primary elections, and Libertarian is now included as a party option on voter registration forms.

• Libertarian Party caucus site Monday night is Cedar Heights Elementary School in Cedar Falls for the region that includes Floyd County, along with Black Hawk, Bremer, Butler, Chickasaw, Fayette, Grundy, Howard, Mitchell, Tama and Winneshiek counties.

At the caucuses the parties will elect precinct representatives and county convention delegates and alternates and vote on platform issues.

“The Iowa caucuses represent the very best of American democracy,” Republican Party of Iowa Chairman Jeff Kaufmann said when caucus dates were announced in September.

“Iowa Republicans and Democrats are glad to renew our continued commitment to a fair, open and honest caucus-to-convention process,” he said.

Iowa Democratic Party Chairman Troy Price said, “One of the most important jobs our two parties have is to ensure that our caucuses are open, honest and transparent — both for our candidates and our voters. We are committed to constantly innovating and improving the caucuses so each year is better than the last.”

Republicans will have their county conventions March 10, and Democrats will have theirs on March 24. Both parties will have district conventions April 28 and state conventions June 16.

The Libertarian Party will have its county conventions Monday night after the caucuses at the same sites. The party’s state convention will be March 24.

— The Associated Press contributed to this report