Today's Brew highlights some interesting facts about next week’s Iowa caucuses + Idaho’s efforts designed to reduce state government regulations  
The Daily Brew
Welcome to the Monday, January 27, Brew. Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day:
  1. Iowa caucuses to be held one week from today
  2. Idaho Governor issues two executive orders designed to reduce regulations
  3. Quiz: How many states’ 2020 candidate filing deadlines have passed so far?

Iowa caucuses to be held one week from today

Voters will convene for the Iowa caucuses in one week—on Feb. 3—in the first presidential nominating event of the 2020 cycle. Since 1976, only one Democrat or Republican has finished outside of the top three candidates in Iowa—Sen. John McCain (R) in 2008—and went on to win their party’s nomination. Odds are you have seen some element of Iowa preview coverage already.

In the 2016 Iowa Democratic caucuses, Hillary Clinton received the support of 49.84% of delegates with Sanders awarded 49.59%. This was the narrowest margin in caucus history and resulted in Clinton being awarded 23 of Iowa’s pledged delegates to the Democratic National Convention and Sanders receiving 21. The Iowa Democratic Party reported that 171,000 participated in their caucuses. This was the second-highest number of participants in the Iowa caucuses after 2008 when roughly 239,000 voters caucused for the Democrats.

Among Republicans in 2016, Ted Cruz finished first with 28%, Donald Trump was second at 24% and Marco Rubio was third at 23%. The turnout in the Republican caucuses set a new record in 2016, with approximately 182,000 participants. Based on the results, Cruz received 8 pledged delegates to the Republican National Convention, Trump and Rubio were awarded 7 each, Ben Carson, who finished fourth, received 3 delegates, and 5 remaining delegates were awarded to five other candidates who finished fifth through ninth.

As we close in on Iowa, here are five fun things to know to help you be prepared for all that lies ahead.
  • Iowa uses caucuses - not a primary. A caucus is a political gathering in which party members choose candidates for an election. At a caucus, participants may debate about the candidates and the voting process itself may not be conducted by secret ballot. Caucus-goers may vote by raising hands or gathering in groups organized by their preferred candidate. Alternatively, a primary is a state-administered election in which voters select their preferred candidate by casting secret ballots.
  • Eligible voters will meet separately at precinct locations in Iowa's 99 counties to declare their preference for their party's nominee. Voters must reside in the precinct in which they wish to participate, be registered to vote in Iowa, and be at least 18 years old on Election Day.
  • The Iowa caucus results will proportionally allocate 41 Democratic and 40 Republican delegates. Both caucuses will be open, meaning participants do not have to already be registered members of either political party to participate.
  • Iowa enacted a law in 1983 requiring its presidential caucuses to occur at least eight days earlier than any other caucus or primary.
  • Since 1996, every Democratic caucus winner in Iowa has won the party’s nomination. Since 1972, only two Democrats have won the Iowa caucuses—Jimmy Carter (1976) and Barack Obama (2008)—and the presidency. Since 2008, no Republican caucus winner in Iowa has won the party’s nomination.
Want to learn more about the presidential nominating contests in Iowa and New Hampshire? We have a Learning Journey that will guide you through the history of why these states matter and how the results of the early primaries can affect the rest of the presidential election cycle. And if you sign up today and choose to have those emails sent daily, you’ll be finished just in time for the Iowa caucuses next week. Click the link below to get started!
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Idaho Governor issues two executive orders designed to reduce regulations

Idaho Governor Brad Little (R) signed two executive orders Jan. 16 aimed at streamlining regulatory review and minimizing the volume of regulations in the state. Little issued the executive orders to continue the state’s efforts to reduce regulations that began in 2019.

The first executive order, titled “Zero-Based Regulation,” creates a five-year regulatory review process in which 20% of the state’s administrative rules are reviewed by the issuing agencies and members of the public each year. Should an agency wish to renew a rule under review, the agency must promulgate a new rule through the rulemaking process. The completed review of agency rules must either reduce or maintain the same number of regulations.

Little’s second executive order, titled “Transparency in Agency Guidance Documents,” requires in part that agency guidance documents—which seek to provide the public with clarification about how agencies interpret and administer regulations—clearly state that the documents are not legally binding. The order is similar to an executive order issued by President Donald Trump (R) in October 2019 that aims to prohibit the creation of binding rules through federal agency guidance documents.

In April 2019, the Idaho legislature did not pass legislation reauthorizing administrative rules in the state, which essentially repealed Idaho’s entire regulatory code. State regulations must be reauthorized by the state legislature each year. Little directed state agencies to submit specific rules to the Division of Financial Management the following month for temporary approval for those rules to remain in effect.

Little stated in a press release on Dec. 4, 2019, that Idaho became "the least-regulated state in the country by cutting and simplifying 75 percent of regulatory rules in one year." According to the release, Little and the Idaho Legislature worked together to cut 1,804 pages from the state administrative code.
 

#BallotTrivia

How many states’ 2020 candidate filing deadlines have passed so far?

Candidates that wish to run for congressional, state, judicial, and local office—whether in a general or primary election—generally must apply to be on the ballot, a process known as candidate filing. In some jurisdictions, prospective candidates must file an application along with a fee, while in others, a candidate must submit a specified number of signatures of registered voters in that jurisdiction. Candidate applications are then processed by election officials so that election machines may be prepared and ballots can be sent to registered absentee and military voters.

Each jurisdiction specifies a date by which such applications must be submitted, known as a candidate filing deadline. For the 2020 election cycle, such deadlines for major-party candidates passed as early as Nov. 8, 2019, in Alabama and will continue until July 17 in Louisiana.

The candidate filing deadline just passed in Maryland (Jan. 24) and West Virginia (Jan. 25), and there are two deadlines in February in Indiana (Feb. 7) and Pennsylvania (Feb. 18). So, this seemed like a good time to quiz our Brew readers: How many states have seen their 2020 filing deadline pass for major-party candidates so far?
 
A.  8 
B.  10 
C.  11 
D.  13 

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