Voter registration on the rise in Iowa

Editor’s note: This report was updated Nov. 1.

STATE STATS

Voter makeup: As of October, Iowa has 2,234,201 registered voters, an increase of nearly 20,000 since the same month in 2020. The ratio of registered Republicans to Democrats has steadily gone up during the last five years. Of the current registered voters, 740,922 are Republican while 738,110 are Democrat. Nearly 720,000 voters are registered as unaffiliated with either party, up by almost 60,000 since 2020.

With a Republican governor and majority in the state House and Senate, the GOP holds a triplex of power in Iowa.

Voting: Iowa allows voters to register by filling out a paper or online form up to and on Election Day. Those who register at the polls on Election Day must show a picture ID such as a driver’s license and proof of residence. All in-person voters must show ID at the polls. Registered voters may request an absentee ballot for any reason up to 15 days before an election and must return ballots by mail or in person at an elections office by the time polls close. Iowa does not require absentee ballots to be notarized or witnessed.

PRESIDENTIAL

Iowa only has six Electoral College votes, but the Midwestern state still plays an influential role in elections. From 1972 to 2024, Iowa’s Democratic and Republican caucuses were the nation’s first nominating contests in each presidential election cycle. This year, the Democratic National Committee scheduled its first primary in South Carolina instead.

In Iowa, Democrats mailed in nomination cards, and the party released the results on Super Tuesday in March. President Joe Biden won with 12,337 ballots cast for him, or 90.4 percent of the vote. In the 2020 Democratic caucuses, Biden gained 15.8 percent of votes against six other candidates. After Biden dropped out of the 2024 election, the Democratic delegates unanimously backed Vice President Kamala Harris at the national convention in August.

Republicans held caucuses in Iowa on Jan. 15. Former President Donald Trump garnered 56,243 votes, or 51 percent. He won 98 of Iowa’s 99 counties this time, compared to just 37 in the 2020 caucuses.

Iowa voters have selected a Republican presidential candidate 20 times and a Democrat 11 times since 1900. Trump won the state’s six electoral votes in 2016 and 2020 with 51.2 percent and 53.1 percent, respectively.

U.S. HOUSE

Republicans currently hold all four of Iowa’s seats in the House, but two are in play for Democrats this year. The latest Des Moines Register Iowa poll released in September found that Democrats could have the edge in the 1st and 3rd Districts. Also, Trump leads Harris by roughly four points statewide, compared to his 18-point lead over Biden.Voters have elected almost twice as many Republicans as Democrats to the House in the past 20 years.

• In 2022, Republican Zach Nunn, 45, defeated Democratic incumbent Rep. Cindy Axne and flipped Iowa’s 3rd District by a little more than 2,000 votes. Nunn is now up against Democrat Lanon Baccam, 43, a combat veteran and former U.S. Department of Agriculture official. Baccam campaigns for Social Security and Medicare funding and supports abortion. His parents are Tai Dam refugees from Laos who fled to Iowa after the Vietnam War. Nunn is also a combat veteran and a former Iowa state representative and senator. He served on the White House’s National Security Council and sponsored defense bills in Congress. He also supports pro-life legislation.

• In the 1st District, Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, 69, is in a close rematch with former state Sen. Christina Bohannan. Miller-Meeks was first elected in 2020 by only six votes, flipping the district red. In Congress, she chairs the Conservative Climate Caucus and has touted her activism for renewable energy, specifically in Iowa. Democratic challenger Bohannan is a University of Iowa law professor and former state legislator. She also has the endorsement of several climate groups. But their debate in October focused mostly on cultural issues. Miller-Meeks supports pro-life protections and co-sponsored the Life at Conception Act in 2021. The measure guaranteed a right to life for every human starting at conception but did not come up for a congressional vote. Bohannan supports abortion access. She also said she supports better southern border security and also more pathways for refugees and citizenship status for migrants. She has outraised Miller-Meeks nearly 2 to 1. The Cook Political Report shifted the race to its “toss-up” category in October.

JUDICIAL ELECTIONS

The term of Iowa Supreme Court Justice David May, 53, ends on Dec. 31. Candidates are not required to file to run in the election until 104 days beforehand, but May is expected to seek retention. He must receive a simple majority to stay on the bench and serve another eight-year term. All seven nonpartisan justices were appointed by a Republican governor.

BALLOT MEASURES

Iowa has two legislature-referred ballot measures this election, both of which would amend the state constitution.

• One amendment would change the language of the constitution to prohibit noncitizens from voting. The amendment would also allow 17-year-olds who will be 18 by the general election to vote in primary elections.

• The Iowa Gubernatorial Succession Amendment proposes that if the governor or governor-elect is temporarily disabled, dies, resigns, or is removed from office, the lieutenant governor or lieutenant governor-elect completes the rest of the term and appoints a new lieutenant governor. Currently, the constitution does not specify the succession plan if a governor-elect cannot take office, nor does it allow the lieutenant governor to appoint a replacement.

Dig deeper:

• Read Leo Briceno’s coverage of a bill to prevent noncitizens from voting in federal elections.

• Read Carolina Lumetta’s report on Iowa’s religious voters.

• Listen to Kent Covington’s report on Trump’s win at this year’s Republican caucus in Iowa, and read Carolina Lumetta’s coverage of the same event.
• Josh Schumacher covers Iowa’s heartbeat law that protects unborn babies from abortion after a heartbeat is detected.

Visit the WORLD Election Center 2024 to follow our state-by-state coverage between now and November.