Schools, churches, American Legion Posts, a bank and an insurance agency are among the sites where precinct meetings will be held for Monday’s Iowa Caucuses. Republicans in 28 Iowa counties, however, have made plans to have all precincts in the county meet at one location.

Wapello County Republicans will be gathering at Ottumwa High School.

“We have done this because when I started doing Caucuses, which is about 25 years ago, we only had about 700 people that attended,” Wapello County Republican Party chair Trudy Caviness told Radio Iowa. “in 2016, we had about 1800 people.”

Caviness said the weather could make it difficult for some rural residents to make it to Ottumwa Monday night, but she said given the number of phone calls she’s fielding, the wind chill may not dampen turnout.

“I’ve heard from a lot of people who have never Caucused before and they’re excited about it,” Caviness said. “They want to know the procedures and what happens and so I think we’re going to have pretty robust turnout.”

Denny Werkmeister is O’Brien County GOP chairman and Republicans in his county will be meeting at the Harley-Melvin-Sanborn High School Monday night.

“It makes reporting (results) easier if we’re all at one location. We also get a better handle, I think, on the number of people who are attending,” he told Radio Iowa. “Just logistics wise, it’s a benefit.”

His guess on turnout? “That’s a good question,” Werkmeister said, with a laugh. “I think with the presidential race and some of the issues that are going on, I think the turn-out will be good.”

Most of the 28 counties that opted to have one site for all precincts in the county have reserved space at a school or community college, but Adams County Republicans will be meeting at the Opera House in Corning.

Plans for these “super sites” were in the works before the weather took a turn. Here’s the list of counties where all precincts will meet in one location in the county: Adams, Adair, Calhoun, Clay, Crawford, Davis, Delaware, Dickinson, Emmet, Floyd, Franklin, Humboldt, Ida, Lucas, Monona, Monroe, Montgomery, O’Brien, Osceola, Palo Alto, Ringgold, Sac, Shelby, Wapello, Wayne, Webster, Worth, Wright.)

(This story has been updated to show 28, not 23 counties as originally reported will have “super sites” for Caucus night.)

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