Iowa GOP advances bill requiring in-person caucusing, pre-registration

After a tense hearing, Iowa House lawmakers advanced a bill Wednesday that would require Iowans to be physically present to participate in the state's caucuses, and to register more than two months ahead of time to do so.

The Republican proposal comes after national Democrats voted to remove Iowa from its first-in-the-nation spot in their party's presidential nominating process after 50 years.

Iowa will hold the first nominating contest for Republicans in the 2024 presidential race, and candidates are already competing here. But Republicans say Democrats' proposed changes to allow mail-in participation in the Iowa caucuses could jeopardize the GOP's future status.

"We are in the process of potentially losing both parties’ status as first in the nation," said Rep. Bobby Kaufmann, R-Wilton, the bill's author.

More: Iowa House GOP bill to require in-person caucusing, endangering Democrats' mail-in plans

Democrats say they're trying to expand access to their caucuses with a mail-in participation system, and Republicans are overreaching with the legislation.

"The Legislature needs to mind their own business on this one," said Rep. Amy Nielsen, D-North Liberty. "This is a party event."

On a party-line vote, a five-member subcommittee of three Republicans and two Democrats advanced House Study Bill 245 to the Ways and Means Committee, where it will receive a hearing Thursday.

The bill states that anyone participating in a party's caucus must be present in person and must have registered as a member of the political party at least 70 days before the caucus.

Threat of New Hampshire has Republicans concerned

New Hampshire state law requires it to hold the first presidential primary in the nation. Republicans, including Gov. Kim Reynolds, say if Iowa Democrats' caucus process too closely resembles a primary, New Hampshire will move up the date of its election.

Iowa Democrats have already been stripped from their place at the beginning of the nominating calendar.

The Democratic National Committee voted in February to make South Carolina the first state in the party's 2024 presidential nominating process, followed by Nevada, New Hampshire, Georgia and Michigan, removing Iowa from the leadoff spot it has long occupied.

As part of Iowa's bid to remain first, the Iowa Democratic Party put forward a plan last June to remake the party's caucus process by having participants cast written "presidential preference cards" in the mail in the weeks leading to caucus night, when the results would be announced.

Iowa Democrats have said they will stick to that plan.

In a statement, Reynolds called the first-in-the-nation caucuses a historic tradition and said she would do everything she could to protect them.

“Iowa is not the first in the nation primary — that privilege belongs to New Hampshire," Reynolds said. "Iowa’s role in the presidential primary process is to be a caucus — a gathering of neighbors, in person to debate and conduct party business. The Iowa Democrat Party is unwilling to accept that their changes, an all-mail-in system of ballots, are by definition a primary and not a caucus. Because of this, our coveted status as first in the nation is in jeopardy.”

If New Hampshire tries to hold a contest earlier than Iowa's, Rep. Austin Harris, R-Moulton, said it will put Iowa in a position where the state's Republican Party has to respond.

"We will start this back-and-forth game of moving up our caucuses and primaries up to, you know, October or November of this year," he said. "Which I don’t think we want to do."

In a statement Tuesday, Iowa Democratic Party Chair Rita Hart suggested Republicans' actions are contrary to the two parties' history of working together to preserve Iowa's leadoff spot.

"This legislation proposed by Republicans is a surprise move," Hart said Tuesday. "It’s disappointing that Republicans proposed this bill with no input from Democrats, and it is potentially damaging to the history of how Iowa’s parties have always worked together regarding the Iowa caucuses. Iowa Democrats will do what’s best for Iowa and that means moving forward with an inclusive caucus process."

Protecting the caucuses' integrity, or an overreach?

Democrats have focused in recent years on expanding access to the caucuses, which can be difficult to participate in for Iowans with disabilities, shift workers and those with young children who can't find child care. The party's mail-in proposal is an attempt to address those concerns.

Nielsen said that since the caucuses are run by political parties, not the state, the parties have the right to decide how they are run.

"I don’t think that allowing some remote access to our caucuses is creating a primary," she said. "What it’s doing is opening up access."

Republicans said Iowa needs to preserve the state's tradition of in-person caucuses, where Iowans have face-to-face conversations with their neighbors and seek to persuade their community that their candidate is worth supporting.

"A caucus is a place for a robust conversation, a place where you can get together with your party and discuss the best candidates," said Rep. Brooke Boden, R-Indianola. "And I don’t think a mail-in ballot affords that type of conversation to happen in the first place."

Nielsen called the GOP bill "an overreach."

"You should let the parties continue to do the great work that both of our parties do already and stay out of it," she said.

"I will mind my own business when the Iowa caucuses are not in jeopardy," Kaufmann said. "When the Iowa caucuses are in jeopardy — which they absolutely are — then it is my business."

Who can participate in the caucuses? 70-day registration requirement could cause hurdles

Groups representing Iowa voters and Iowans with disabilities said the requirement that Iowans register 70 days ahead of time would make it harder for Iowans to participate in the caucus process.

"We think this bill is taking an already pretty exclusive process in the caucuses and making it even more exclusive," said Amy Campbell, a lobbyist for the League of Women Voters of Iowa. "A third of Iowa voters are independents and they should be allowed to decide which party they would like to choose a candidate for."

Kaufmann said caucuses are not elections, and political parties have the right to choose who can participate.

"An independent can still very easily choose to participate in the caucuses," Kaufmann said. "They just have to choose to register with the party they want to caucus with 70 days out. It’s not some significant burden for anyone to overcome."

Kaufmann, who is a senior adviser to former President Donald Trump's 2024 caucus campaign, denied that the bill's requirements are intended to help any candidate gain an advantage over any other.

"This is making sure that everybody’s playing by the same rules," he told reporters Wednesday. "I realize you’re all trying to tie this to Donald Trump. This has nothing to do with a specific candidate."

Iowa has same-day voter registration, and the bill's requirement to register ahead of time would apply only to caucuses. Iowans could still register to vote at the polls when participating in federal, state and local elections.

Republicans said the early registration requirement is intended as a guard against parties meddling in each other's caucuses, since the Democratic and Republican caucuses are not likely to be held on the same day.

Nielsen and other Democrats said Iowans have had same-day voter registration for years without issues.

"I think that it’s important that when we are talking about people exercising their right to vote that we’re always making it more accessible — safely, obviously — instead of trying to shrink the pool down to who actually gets to participate," she said.

Stephen Gruber-Miller covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. He can be reached by email at sgrubermil@registermedia.com or by phone at 515-284-8169. Follow him on Twitter at @sgrubermiller.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: GOP lawmakers advance bill changing Iowa caucuses as Democrats object