Iowa Democrats have a new caucus process. How it will work

As soon as GOP candidates threw their hats into the ring last year, it's been full steam ahead to Monday's 2024 Iowa Republican caucuses.

But for the first time in several cycles, Democrats are taking a much different tack. They've ditched the Iowa caucuses all together — at least when it comes to selecting a presidential nominee.

As Republicans host voters at their designated caucus locations on Jan. 15, the Democrats also will hold party business meetings to elect unbound and alternate delegates and vote on platform resolutions.

But that's where the similarities end.

Unlike their Republican counterparts, the Iowa Democratic Party will not host an in-person presidential preference contest, opting instead for mail-in ballots listing incumbent President Joe Biden, Minnesota Rep. Dean Phillips, Marianne Williamson, and an option for «uncommitted.»

The party started accepting requests for these cards via a Google form on the party's website and by mail on Nov. 1, 2023. And while they will start to be mailed out to voters on Jan. 12, they will not be accepted in person at the caucuses.

All cards must be postmarked by March 5, a date when more than a dozen other states hold their primaries, otherwise known as Super Tuesday.

Last winter, the Democratic National Committee voted to remove the Hawkeye State from its early primary calendar lineup, partially due to criticism that the state's racial demographics weren't fully representative of the party's base as a whole.

Under the new calendar, the 2024 Democratic presidential primary begins in South Carolina — the state that revived President Joe Biden's campaign in the 2020 contest — on Feb. 3.

At the time, this move caused some pushback from state Democrats who felt left behind. In order