Iowa Republicans confident in reporting caucus results. When you may see them Caucus Day:

Iowa Republicans are expecting a smooth night on Monday as they report caucus results from 1,657 precincts around the state, in contrast to issues that plagued Democrats' caucuses in 2020 and prevented reports of timely and accurate results.

"We have done everything humanly possible to ensure that this caucus comes off without a hitch," Republican Party of Iowa Chair Jeff Kaufmann said at a party legislative breakfast on Monday.

The Republican Party of Iowa will have a public website with results of each precinct once they have been entered by that precinct's chair and checked for accuracy by party staff. It plans to make the website live on Caucus Day.

More:Everything about the Iowa Caucuses that you should know

Patrick Stewart, a consultant for the Republican Party of Iowa, told reporters that results from the smallest precincts, where only a few people show up to caucus, should be available about 30 minutes or so after the caucuses' 7 p.m. start. Results from larger precincts should begin coming in over the next few hours.

Volunteer precinct chairs at the state's 1,657 precincts will enter their results via an online system that requires them to enter the numbers twice to ensure they are correct. Then, state party staff will manually approve each precinct's results, posting them to the Iowa GOP's website that will update as results come in from around the state on caucus night.

Each precinct also will record the results on paper on what's known as a Form E, which will be collected by the state party and canvassed later to give the official caucus results.

Kaufmann called it "the most transparent process that you will find anywhere in the country."

"The votes are counted in front of the room," he said. "Then the votes are reported in front of the room. And each candidate can have a representative watching them count it and report it in front of the room. Then the app or the call in is done in front of the room."

Stewart said he doesn't expect problems with the system the party has set up to report results to its website.

"Short of a complete worldwide collapse of the internet we should not have a problem with the data feed," he said. "However, in the event we do have a challenge, we will be releasing those via press release, which has been done in the past as well."

This year's Republican candidates, including former President Donald Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, will be counting on swift reporting of the caucus results so they can reap the benefits of a strong showing and the resulting media attention it provides.

More:2024 Iowa Caucuses voter guide

One of the biggest benefits of a strong caucus finish is the resulting media "bounce" for a candidate who overperforms expectations.

That could mean winning the contest outright, or even getting a stronger than expected second- or third-place showing.

But, historically, Iowa's caucus results haven't always been known right away on caucus night.

More:Where do I caucus? Republicans release Iowa Caucus sites for presidential nominations

2020: Democratic glitches prevent the Associated Press from calling a winner

The Associated Press never ended up calling a winner of the 2020 Democratic caucuses, saying there were concerns about the accuracy of the results reported by the Iowa Democratic Party that made it impossible.

The race ended as a photo finish between former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg (now the Department of Transportation secretary) and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

The Iowa Democratic Party's State Central Committee met Feb. 29, more than three weeks after the Feb. 3 caucuses, to certify Buttigieg as the winner, awarding him 14 delegates to Sanders' 12.

But the days of uncertainty and wall to wall coverage of the glitches largely prevented Buttigieg from getting a boost.

He dropped out just before Super Tuesday.

2016: Hillary Clinton narrowly prevails over Bernie Sanders

The Iowa Democratic Party announced the results of its 2016 caucuses at 2:30 a.m., declaring that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had won by a slim margin over Sanders.

The Associated Press officially called the race around midday the next day.

2012: GOP mistakenly declares Mitt Romney the winner before recount showed Rick Santorum won

Former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum had his 2012 caucus victory snatched from him by an error that led to eight precincts not being included in the final results.

The caucus night results showed Mitt Romney winning by eight votes, but it wasn't until two weeks later that a recount determined Santorum had really won by 34 votes.

By that time, media attention had moved on. Santorum dropped out in April and Romney went on to become the Republican nominee.

More:Who won past Republican, Democratic Iowa Caucuses? See 2020, 2016 and earlier results

How to follow Iowa Caucus results from the Des Moines Register

The Des Moines Register will have dozens of journalists, photographers and videographers with Republican presidential candidates in the lead-up to the caucus. They also will bring live coverage on caucus night and at caucus sites, including with Democrats, across the state.

Read our coverage and see results as they come in on desmoinesregister.com.

Download the Register’s app and enable push alerts for notifications as coverage and results happen. And follow us on Facebook, X, Instagram and TikTok to see videos and get updates from our journalists across the state.

Subscribe to the Register for unlimited coverage of all the news and analysis related to the Iowa Caucuses.

Issues at your caucus site? Contact our Readers Watchdog, Lee Rood, at iowacaucuswatch.com or 515-778-6670.

Stephen Gruber-Miller covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. He can be reached by email at sgrubermil@registermedia.com or by phone at 515-284-8169. Follow him on Twitter at @sgrubermiller.