DES MOINES, Iowa — In a step away from tradition, the state Democratic Party will allow registered voters to participate in next year's Iowa presidential caucuses by mobile device, opening the door for the likes of snowbirds, military personnel, shift workers and those traveling out of state to be among the first in the nation to weigh in on the crowded field of presidential contenders.

The Iowa Democratic Party announced on Monday that ten percent of the national delegates to come out of the state will be based off the selections of Iowans who partake in the party's new "virtual caucus" system.

In the final six days leading up to the February 3, 2020, caucuses, Iowa voters will have the opportunity to participate in a "virtual caucus" through a mobile device. Regardless of the ultimate share of the electorate that opts to virtually caucus, those results will count for ten percent of the delegate share, said Troy Price, the chair of the Iowa Democratic Party. 

The party also announced it will create a paper trail of caucus selections in 2020 in the event that a candidate requests a recount. After an exceedingly tight Democratic caucus in 2016, participants will now write down the name of their selected candidate on a piece of paper.

Per tradition, candidates must still meet a 15 percent threshold of support at a caucus site in order to be deemed a viable candidate at that site. If a candidate does not have 15 percent support at that site, a caucusgoer may select a different candidate to lend his or her support to. 

The results of these two rounds will now be made public at the conclusion of caucus night. With the crowded field of candidates, and potentially an Iowa electorate prepared to spread support to a slew of candidates, many candidates are expected to fall short of that 15 percent support marker. But candidates will now have access to the results of that first round of caucusing and are expected to point to it as stronger signs of initial support than the final caucus results will reflect.