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WASHINGTON, D.C. — Iowa Democrats made their case Thursday morning to the Democratic National Committee to keep Iowa first in the nation in the presidential nominating process.

In April, the DNC rules committee approved a plan to strip four states, including Iowa, of their early voting spots. It’s been nearly 20 years since the national committee has seriously considered changing the early state lineup. That lineup has Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada holding their presidential nominating votes before March 1st.

Caucus critics have attacked Iowa’s lack of diversity, something that the chair of the Iowa Democratic Party spoke about at length during the presentation.

“We had a record number of candidates of color run for office. And part of that, we did some extensive outreach using a couple of vendors to just reach out, as well as in our communities of color.  But it resulted, among the results the city the growing suburb of West Liberty, their entire city council are members of the Latinx community. The city of Waterloo, Iowa their Black mayor was just re-elected to another term and the majority of his city council are Black. I used to be mayor of Iowa City, Iowa,” said Ross Wilburn, Chair of the Iowa Democratic Party.

The new proposal to the DNC says the IDP plans to hire an election administration vendor, in an effort to take the burden off volunteers, and avoid a repeat of the 2020 caucus when reporting delays created major headaches and a delay in the results.

Simplifications to the caucus process will also be implemented, including absentee and mail-in caucusing. The IDP plans to eliminate the realignment aspect of the caucuses, meaning participants will express only their first choice for president. A separate event would be held to elect delegates.

We should find out in early August whether the DNC will allow Iowa to retain its first in the nation caucus status.