Will GOP end same-day registration for Iowa Caucuses? Party chair says it's a 'big hurdle'

The Republican Party of Iowa appears poised to continue allowing same-day voter registration during the coming 2024 presidential caucuses, despite a new state law that empowers the party to set an earlier deadline.

State party chair Jeff Kaufmann said during a recent taping of Iowa Press the decision isn’t final and conversations are ongoing. But he said it would be a “big hurdle” to change the voter registration deadline for the current caucus cycle.

“I can tell you that it is very, very clear in our constitution that same-day registration is something that we shall allow,” Kaufmann said. “That's been the case since 1992. So this is a situation where it's a constitutional issue, a very clear constitutional issue, for the Republican Party of Iowa.”

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Iowans must be a registered member of a particular political party to caucus with that party. But Iowa’s same-day voter registration laws allow Iowans to switch their political affiliation on the day of the caucuses, giving them more flexibility to participate.

However, a new state law, which Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds signed earlier this year, gives the state’s political parties the power to remove same-day voter registration for the caucuses and set their own deadlines far sooner.

Several Republican lawmakers said they were concerned about Democrats attempting to interfere in the GOP caucuses by registering with the party at the last minute and affecting the outcome.

Kaufmann suggested during the Iowa Press interview that the party is still discussing ways to prevent “disaffected Republicans and Democrats from flooding our caucuses and giving us results that aren’t indicative of a Republican caucus.”

Still, he said, it would be difficult to change the rules.

“We're having conversations, but that's a big hurdle,” he said. “Look, Republicans are constitutional conservatives. We cannot blow off, nor can we ignore, nor can we really wink and nod when something is in our (Republican Party) constitution.”

He said the legislation effectively gives the party “wiggle room” to make future changes if it chooses, and it ensured any future decision would come from the party, not the state.

Steve Scheffler, the Republican National Committeeman from Iowa and the president of the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition, said on the show that same-day voter registration can be helpful for presidential campaigns.

“But if the campaigns are doing their job and their work, you know, they've identified these people in advance,” he said. “You know, you got staffers who their job is to get people committed and to actually turn them out. And so I think that most of them understand that 95% of that work has to be done in advance and not to count on those late registrations or people to come in and help their candidate.”

The new law does not affect Iowa’s existing same-day voter registration process for voters participating in federal, state and local elections.

Politics reporter Stephen Gruber-Miller contributed to this report.

Brianne Pfannenstiel is the chief politics reporter for the Register. Reach her at bpfann@dmreg.com or 515-284-8244. Follow her on Twitter at @brianneDMR.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Ending same-day voter registration would be 'big hurdle' for caucuses