Primghar, Iowa — Voter registration is up both statewide and locally, leading to the assumption that interest in Monday night’s caucuses is up.
Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate has unveiled voter registration numbers and trends prior to the Iowa Caucus to help you understand and analyze the latest voter registration trends.
Here is the breakdown of the latest state voter registration totals, by party:
January 27
Democrats: 586,211
Republicans: 615,066
No Party: 726,999
Other: 7,597
Total: 1.935,873
Both the Republican and Democratic parties saw significant increases in voter registration from the previous month’s totals. Here are the numbers from the beginning of January:
January 4
Democrats: 584,111
Republicans: 612,112
No Party: 726,819
Other: 7,555
Totals: 1,930,597
Increases by Party from January 4-January 27
Democrats: +2,100
Republicans: +2,954
No Party: +180
Other: +42
Total: +5,276
Pate says that these numbers clearly show that Iowans are paying attention to the Iowa Caucuses and are eager to participate on Monday. He says he encourages all eligible Iowans to go to their local precinct caucuses and make their voices heard.
All of the monthly voter registration totals are available on the Iowa Secretary of State’s website at this link. Click on ‘February’ under ‘2016’ for the latest information: http://sos.iowa.gov/elections/voterreg/regstat.html.
In terms of voters changing party affiliation, here are the statewide totals from January 1-January 27. “No Party” is the same as independent. “Other” means third parties like Libertarian, Green, etc..
Party Changes
Dem to Rep: 924
Dem to No Party: 888
Dem to Other: 24
Rep to Dem: 640
Rep to No Party: 766
Rep to Other: 34
No Party to Dem: 1,960
No Party to Rep: 2,205
Other to Dem: 70
Other to Rep: 63
The Iowa Secretary of State’s Office, in conjunction with the Iowa Department of Transportation, launched a new electronic voter registration system on January 1, 2016. As of Thursday morning, January 26, 5,324 Iowans had successfully utilized the system to register to vote or update their voter registration information.
From these numbers, 746 were brand new registrations. The others were updating their registration information.
O’Brien County Auditor Barb Rohwer says she has had many more questions and voter registration requests this year in the days leading up to the caucus than in any previous year in her memory. She says that in the final few days before the caucuses, when people asked to register to vote, she started giving them the registration forms and telling them to fill them out and take them to the caucus to register there. She says it takes a few days for the changes to take effect going through the auditor’s office, but with registration at the caucus site, it works as if the change were instantaneous.
In order to caucus, you must be registered as a member of the party whose caucus you plan to attend. If you are not registered as a a member of that party, you can register at the caucus, but caucus organizers ask that you arrive early to fill out a voter registration form.
Any person who is eligible to vote in the State of Iowa and will be at least 18 years old on Election Day, November 8, 2016, may participate in the Iowa Caucuses on February 1, 2016.
