The Republican Party of Iowa raised over $800,000 to finance the operations for tonight’s Iowa Caucuses.
The caucuses are not like a primary, when county auditors and county-owned voting machines process ballots. Iowa GOP chairman Jeff Kaufmann said it’s a major undertaking for the party.
“We have done over 200 trainings face-to-face. We’re going to be approaching 10,000 volunteers to carry this out,” Kaufmann said during a speech at a recent Iowa GOP fundraiser. “We are very, very confident that we have done everything humanly possible to make sure this Caucus comes off without a hitch.”
Kaufmann uses the word “unprecedented” to describe the level of precinct-level organizing on the part of two campaigns. He won’t name the campaigns, but it’s clear from the activity Iowa Republicans are seeing that he’s referring to the Trump and DeSantis teams. “The organization is actually perfect training for what they’re going to have to do in the General Election,” Kaufmannn said.
You must be an Iowa resident and a registered Republican to participate in tonight’s straw poll vote. Democrats and independents are able to switch their party registration at Caucus sites, starting at 6 p.m.
Kaufmann is issuing a warning to Democrats who may register as Republicans to participate in the Iowa GOP’s Caucuses and cast a vote in the Iowa Democratic Party’s new mail-in system to indicate which Democratic candidate they prefer. “If a Democrat attempts to do that and participates in both, that’s against the law,” Kaufmann said, “and we’re going to be monitoring that very, very carefully.”
Kaufmann has been chairman of the Iowa Republican Party for a decade.