Iowa caucus counting moved due to ‘Occupy Caucus’ concerns

Iowa’s Republican Party will count this year’s caucus results at a secret location in response to security concerns, according to multiple reports.

The Occupy Caucus movement, organized by Occupy Wall Street protesters in the Hawkeye State, is gaining steam and could potentially disrupt the caucus votes taking place next week.

“The Iowa GOP is taking additional safeguards to ensure the caucus results are tabulated and reported to the public in an accurate and timely manner,” Iowa Republican Party Chairman Matt Strawn told CNN.

Occupy Iowa protesters met Wednesday to plan a week of protests timed to hit the Iowa caucus. The caucus protesters voted to “go big” starting Wednesday afternoon, staging protests outside Mitt Romney’s Des Moines campaign headquarters and a Wells Fargo bank building, according to The Des Moines Register. President Obama’s reelection campaign headquarters is another possible target later this week.

The protesters have pledged to remain nonviolent, calling the movement the “People’s Caucus” and seeking to draw attention away from the “1 percent” candidates and back to the “99 percent” supposedly represented by the movement.

Iowa’s caucus is set for Jan. 3. Most of the GOP presidential candidates, including Romney, are in the state for a last push before the first vote of 2012.

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