The Iowa caucuses will be held on January 3rd, 2012 at 7:00 PM. You must be a registered Republican to attend. Registration forms will be available on site to complete if needed, or if you want to change your registration. If someone will be 18 as of the general election on November 6, 2012, they can attend and vote at the caucus, as long as they are a registered Republican, or will register as a Republican at the caucus.
The first step to attend your caucus is determining in which precinct you live. If you do not know your precinct, you can find it on the Scott County Auditor’s website: click on the “precinct finder” link and type in your address. Once you determine your precinct you can find your caucus site either by looking on our website, or calling the auditors office; they have a list of all of our sites.
There is no charge to attend, although a donation envelope will be distributed. All donations are given to the Scott County Republican Party to offset caucus expenses and help elect Republicans at all levels.
Expect the caucus to take 1 -1 ½ hours or more depending on the number of people attending.
Get to your caucus EARLY in order to avoid the rush and get properly checked in; 6:00 is a good idea. For check in you will need a picture ID, preferably an Iowa driver’s license.
YOU MIGHT NOT CAUCUS AT THE SAME LOCATION AT WHICH YOU VOTE! Caucus sites are assigned by your precinct number. Find your precinct, either by looking on your voter registration card, or by searching the Scott County Auditor website, search by your current address. Once you find your precinct number you can find your caucus site by looking at our website, scottcountyrepublicans.org, or the Scott County Auditor’s website.
When you arrive at your location, find your specific room and go there to check in. At 7:00 PM a temporary caucus chairman will call the caucus to order. The first order of business will be to elect a permanent Caucus Chairperson who will run the caucus, and a permanent Caucus Secretary who will be the recorder.
In addition to voting for President, delegates will be elected to the Scott County Republican County Convention. Interest forms will also be completed for the District Convention, and the Iowa State Convention. Those interested in attending the District/State convention need to be voted upon at the County convention. Any registered Republican is eligible to attend. Junior delegates (those younger than legal voting age), will also be asked to attend the County Convention; no vote is taken. All who want to attend are allowed to do so.
The County Convention will be on Saturday, March 10 at the Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds. The fee for a delegate to attend is $15.00 and the alternate delegate fee is $10.00 (no fee for Junior Delegates). The District Convention is April 21, location TBD. The state convention is June 16, and the fee to attend one or both is $50, with no alternate delegate fee. The site for the state convention has not yet been chosen; most likely it will be in Des Moines, but it will be a full day, beginning early in the morning and continuing all day. Fees for the county convention will be collected at the caucus, so if you think you might want to attend, please be prepared to pay the fee. In order to attend the District and/or State Conventions, one must first be a delegate to the County Convention; no fees for district/state are collected at the caucus, as these delegates must be voted on at the County Convention in March. County delegates can attend either both or just one of District and State Conventions.
When it is time to take the presidential preference poll, each candidate will have a campaign spokesperson who will speak on that candidate’s behalf. Then a written ballot will be taken. The winner is the candidate who has received the most votes. Platform issues will also be requested, and must be submitted in writing on the official form that will be available.
A VERY IMPORTANT PART OF THIS CAUCUS IS TO ELECT PRECINCT LEADERS TO SERVE FOR THE NEXT 2 YEARS. Each precinct will elect 2 precinct leaders who will make up the voting members of the Scott County Republican Central Committee. This is a very important volunteer position, as these will be the people we ask to engage folks in their own precincts, and help to get out the vote to win in 2012. The Central Committee meets every other month, on Tuesday evening, and it is expected that at a minimum, precinct leaders attend these meetings. If you, or if you know of anyone who might be interested in serving in this vital role, and would like to discuss it further, please contact us at 563-823-5854. There will be information available at the caucuses regarding responsibilities of the precinct leaders.
Happy New Year & Happy Caucusing!
