Iowa Democratic caucus turnout surpassed 2016 but fell far short of 2008 record

Leading up to Monday night's caucuses, the Iowa Democratic Party officials said they were expecting attendance to eclipse the record set a dozen years ago.

The final turnout number fell far short of those predictions.

More than 176,400 people participated in the Democratic caucuses Monday, according to results provided by the Associated Press, which showed 1,764 of 1,765 precincts' tallies Friday afternoon. That attendance surpassed the 171,000 who attended in 2016 attendance but was well short of the record 240,000 Democrats set in 2008.

In growing areas of the state such as Polk, Dallas and Johnson counties, local party leaders prepared for longer lines by paying for bigger venues and adding more volunteers, in hopes of avoiding some of the overcrowding issues that marked the 2016 caucuses.

In Johnson County, caucus organizer John Deeth was expecting the largest Iowa City precinct, which welcomed 935 people in 2016, would eclipse 1,000. But attendance there actually regressed Monday, dropping to 875 attendees.

Although turnout numbers surprised him in some areas of the county, Deeth said it ended up around 21,400, about where he had anticipated.

"The trend I saw was that our medium-to-large precincts were up, but our biggest precincts were down," he said.

Deeth said even though statewide turnout ended up below expectations, he didn't think it meant Democrats lack energy.

"What I've been hearing from doorknockers and volunteers was people were overwhelmed by the number of choices and kind of decided, 'I don't care who gets nominated, I'm going to vote for whoever runs against (President Donald) Trump in November,'" he said.

Preparation for large crowds resulted in a much smoother caucus experience for attendees this year, said Polk County Democratic Party chairman Sean Bagniewski.

Only a couple of the county's 177 precincts reported any kind of issue this year, Bagniewski said, despite attendance surpassing 39,000. Turnout was 35,800 in 2008 and 34,944 in 2016.

For Bagniewski and many others, the smoothness of the night did not apply to the reporting of caucus night results — which involved days of delays, recriminations and, as of Friday, still included errors.

►"It hasn't been a failure": Many Iowa Democratic lawmakers say caucuses went smoothly up until reporting

"Despite the reporting, we're hearing across the board that it's a smooth caucus — one of the best that we've had," Bagniewski said. "There were more volunteers than work at some of the (precincts). Which to me is a good problem."

Deeth agreed, saying while a large number of people updated their voter registration on caucus night, it was the first caucus since 2000 where no one called him because they had run out of forms.

Former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, of Vermont, were in a near-tie for the caucus win on Thursday after the Iowa Democratic Party released the final precinct results. Buttigieg received 26.2% of the state delegate equivalents, while Sanders received 26.13%.

Monday's results may not be final and could be disputed because of potential errors in the count. The Associated Press said Thursday it was unable to declare a winner because the race for the Democratic nomination was "too close to call."

The Iowa Democratic Party on Friday said it was extending the deadline for candidates to request a recanvass of the caucus night results to noon Monday.

In this year's Republican caucuses, the turnout of more than 32,000 didn't come close to the record of more than 180,000 people who turned out in 2016. But Republican Party of Iowa communications director Aaron Britt said Monday did break the record for turnout in a year with an incumbent president. Trump won handily, with 97.1% support.

Republican Party of Iowa chairman Jeff Kaufmann in a news release Monday called the victory "decisive" and a "record-breaking" way to kick off Trump's reelection campaign.

Ian Richardson covers the Iowa Statehouse for the Register. Reach him at irichardson@registermedia.com, at 515-284-8254, or on Twitter at @DMRIanR.

Your subscription makes work like this possible. Subscribe today at DesMoinesRegister.com/Deal.