Caucus Delegates

(Sorry about the delay in blogging – I lost power last night in the middle of a big post.  I called 911 a bunch of times like Governor Culver said, but for some reason they kept saying that I was blocking the lines for actual emergencies.)


A few days ago BH reader desmoinesdem had a great post on MyDD explaining the caucus system to people who don’t understand it.  The numbers from Iowa Progress are off by a little bit though – the central committee this year decided on a total of 2500 for the state convention, rather than 3000.  I’ve posted the projected county-by-county numbers in the extended text.  Note that these are actually state convention delegates, and on caucus night it is actually county convention delegates that are being elected.  That means that each delegate actually elected in a precinct is worth the total number of delegates elected in the county divided by the number of delegates alloted at the state level to the county for the state convention.  If that makes any sense.  🙂

County – Delegates

Polk – 358

Linn – 202

Scott – 142

Johnson – 137

Black Hawk – 117

Dubuque – 90

Story – 77

Woodbury – 68

Pottawattamie – 55

Clinton – 46

Cerro Gordo – 46

Des Moines – 41

Dallas – 39

Warren – 38

Jasper – 35

Lee – 34

Webster – 32

Marshall – 32

Muscatine – 32

Wapello – 31

Boone – 24

Benton – 23

Marion – 23

Bremer – 21

Jackson – 20

Buchanan – 20

Fayette – 18

Jones – 18

Winneshiek – 17

Poweshiek – 17

Cedar – 16

Clayton – 16

Tama – 16

Carroll – 16

Washington – 16

Floyd – 15

Jefferson – 15

Delaware – 15

Dickinson – 14

Henry – 14

Hardin – 14

Kossuth – 14

Hamilton – 14

Plymouth – 13

Iowa – 13

Chickasaw – 13

Mahaska – 13

Buena Vista – 12

Madison – 12

Clay – 12

Allamakee – 12

Butler – 11

Appanoose – 11

Crawford – 10

Wright – 10

Harrison – 10

Cherokee – 10

Mitchell – 10

Cass – 9

Union – 9

Guthrie – 9

Howard – 9

Hancock – 9

Winnebago – 9

Palo Alto – 8

Grundy – 8

Greene – 8

Clarke – 8

Worth – 8

Calhoun – 8

Shelby – 8

Keokuk – 8

Louisa – 8

Franklin – 8

Monona – 8

Emmet – 8

Sioux – 7

Page – 7

Mills – 7

Humboldt – 7

O’Brien – 7

Sac – 7

Lucas – 7

Adair – 6

Monroe – 6

Decatur – 6

Davis – 6

Montgomery – 6

Pocahontas – 6

Audubon – 5

Van Buren – 5

Fremont – 5

Wayne – 5

Taylor – 5

Ida – 5

Ringgold – 5

Lyon – 4

Adams – 3

Osceola – 3

Total – 2500

About the Author(s)

Drew Miller

  • Reciprocal worth

    It seems that the worth of a county delegate from a precinct would be the number of delegates alloted to the county for the state convention divided by the number of elected delegates to the county convention.  For example, if Story County elects 152 delegates to the county convention from its precinct caucuses, then each elected delegate would be only worth half (76/152) because Story County is only alloted 76 delegates to the state convention.

    I think you wrote the opposite:

    “That means that each delegate actually elected in a precinct is worth the total number of delegates elected in the county divided by the number of delegates alloted at the state level to the county for the state convention.  If that makes any sense.  :-)”

    Or maybe I am having a math block.

    • Same Thing

      I think we are trying to say the same thing.  🙂

      Precinct Elected Delegate Worth = Alloted Delegates / # Actual Delegates Elected in County.

      Is that what we are both saying?

      • I agree with that

        I agree with the formula immediately above, but I thought you gave the reciprocal in your main diary.

        Regardless, I appreciate the list of county delegates based on the 2500 figure.

        And I had not appreciated the fact that the precincts may elect more delegates than what will actually be seated at the state convention. So, as the individual precincts phone in their results, the IDP will have to convert the precinct results to actual county-allocated delegates, just adding to the confusion.

        • With Computers

          Hopefully all that can be done by computer, making it pretty simple.  That’s my goal at least, if I end up in that position for the caucuses.  🙂

  • thanks for the correction

    Will post the correct information on state delegate counts in the next diary in my series.

    John Deeth already pointed out in the comments to my MyDD diary that I forgot to mention that precinct caucuses elect county delegates, not state delegates. So there’s another thing I need to clarify in my next diary…

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