Joe Biden wins Iowa Democratic caucus in first-ever mail-in voting with 91% of votes

President Joe Biden has won Iowa's first-ever mail-in Democratic presidential caucus, according to unofficial results posted Tuesday afternoon.

Biden won 91% of the vote, with Democrats selecting his name on 11,083 of the 12,207 preference slips received and processed through Tuesday, the party announced. Counting will continue through March 8.

"Uncommitted" was second with 4% of the vote (480). U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota was third at 3% (362) and author Marianne Williamson was fourth at 2% (268), the party said.

“Iowans recognize that President Biden has made great investments in communities across Iowa including in our childcare centers, roads and bridges, and by expanding broadband access in our most rural areas,” Democratic Party Chair Rita Hart said in a release. “IDP’s staff has worked hard over this past year to make sure that this year’s presidential caucus was as accessible as possible. Not only have we reached the turnout numbers that we experienced in 2012 — we’ve exceeded them. That’s clear evidence that Iowans are energized and ready to re-elect President Biden.”

The release was a marked contrast to the excitement and fanfare of past Democratic caucuses when they were still first in the nation.

Outcome follows chaotic 2020 caucus

There was no gathering spot for Iowa Democrats, no watch parties and nothing of the kind of media coverage seen in the state just four years ago.

Following a chaotic 2020 caucus in which the party failed to report out timely results, national Democrats decided to move away from Iowa as their lead-off state.

South Carolina instead led off the party's presidential primary process in 2024, and Democrats in Iowa only met at a caucus on Jan. 15 to conduct party business while former president Donald Trump won the Republican presidential caucuses on the same night.

Iowa Democrats instead cast their presidential preferences entirely by mail. Presidential preference cards could be requested until Feb. 19.

Nearly 20,000 requested mail-in cards

Party officials said on Feb. 22 that 19,609 Iowans had requested the presidential preference cards. Cards had to be returned to the state party or postmarked by March 5 to count.

The unofficial results show that more than a third of the cards requested had not been turned back in. Turnout numbers have traditionally been difficult to pin down for Democrats, who until recently did not release raw vote totals for each contest, instead relying on a complex formula for “state delegate equivalents.”

News reports differ on the total Democratic turnout in 2012, the last time an incumbent Democrat ran for president. But party officials peg the number at about 15,000.

Biden has not faced a significant challenge in his run for a second term in Iowa, though two other names appeared on Iowans’ preference cards: Williamson and Phillips. Iowa Democrats also could choose to say they are “uncommitted” to any of the candidates.

Rita Hart says mail-in process has not disadvantaged Democratic Party

Hart told the Des Moines Register, part of the USA TODAY Network, ahead of the reveal of the results that “the important thing is that Iowa Democrats will know that this process was smooth, it was easy, it was accurate, it was transparent and that the results are going to be clear to everyone."

“And when we get that all done, it may seem — I don't know if anti-climactic is the right word — I would just say that we will be relieved that this step of the process is done," she said. "And we're proud that we were able to do it in a way that I think is going to be beneficial to Iowa Democrats.”

The chair told reporters Tuesday at the party's Des Moines headquarters as preference cards were being tabulated that the party has not been disadvantaged in hearing from voters about issues by doing a mail-in caucus.

'Most accessible caucus in our entire history'

Hart said this year had "the most accessible caucus in our entire history." She added, "People will tell you, I think, that it was easy to fill out these presidential preference cards to have access to the process. So we're pleased with that."

She said it's clear from conversations at various events since the last caucus that Democratic voters are concerned about women's reproductive rights, public funding for education and infrastructure.

"These are issues that matter to folks and we are hearing from them exactly why Democrats are determined to get more Democrats elected this time around," she said.

"We're going to continue to have conversations about how to — we've talked in the past about how we're reimagining these in-person caucuses now. And I think that is exactly the way to look at it. It's different. It's a new process. And so, we've got to figure out how to create more interest around that, how to get better participation at the in-person caucus, just like looking at the way we tweak the mail-in process," Hart said.

More: The death of the Iowa Democratic caucus: How 50 years of jury-rigging doomed an American tradition

Poll finds Trump dominates Biden in Iowa 2024 lead-up

Trump would nearly double his margin of victory in Iowa over Biden if the opponents had a rematch of the 2020 race now, according to a new Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll.

The former president is leading with 48% compared to Biden's 33%, the early test of the expected matchup showed.

However, 15% of poll respondents said they would vote for “someone else,” 2% are not sure and 1% would not vote.

Trump defeated Biden in Iowa by about 8 percentage points in the 2020 election.

Iowa Democratic caucus results

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Joe Biden wins Iowa's first mail-in Democratic presidential caucus