Rules for voting in the Iowa caucus in January were made clear this week amidst concerns of packing the state with out-of-town activists.

The law currently states that a person must be a registered Democratic voter and state resident who plans to stay in Iowa longer than the next contest on the presidential primary calendar. There have been growing questions and rival presidential campaigns’ fears that front-runner Howard Dean of Vermont might try to pack the Jan. 19 caucus with out-of-state activists.

However, a former chairman of the Democratic Party cleared up these allegations in a recent memo.

“In my opinion, the law and the rules for the caucus provide all of the adequate safeguards that can reasonably be constructed,” Dave Nagle, lawyer and former Congressman, wrote in a memo to party officials explaining the law and dismissing the concerns of Dean’s foes.

Meeting the residency requirement requires an individual to have a home in one of the 2,000 Iowa precincts “with the intent to remain there permanently or for a definite or indefinite or indeterminable length of time.”

The law also has a provision that excludes residents “in a commercial or industrial building.” This condition means that a caucus participant cannot use a hotel room or campaign headquarters to meet the residency requirement.

Activists overseeing each caucus precinct will have a list of registered voters in the precinct. Anyone who claims to be an unregistered voter will have any documentation they present closely scrutinized.

Violation of the law is a misdemeanor in Iowa, which is punishable by a $1,000 fine and a year in jail.

The Dean campaign refuted any accusations that he will pack the caucus in January, saying rival campaigns raised the issue only as a diversion to stir up commotion and doubt for the Dean campaign.

“It’s a ridiculous assertion,” Dean’s Iowa spokesperson Sarah Leonard said.

She added that activists from other states would only be brought in to campaign and help with state voter turnout. Dean has attracted hundreds of thousands of supporters through the Internet.

As a campaign strategy, all of the presidential candidates have organized local people to be present at the precincts, said Dean spokesperson Claire Gannon.

The University of Wisconsin student organization Students for Dean has planned to send several busloads of UW students to Iowa to help with the campaign. This group and other electoral student groups on campus have been busy campaigning throughout Madison, handing out information sheets and chalking slogans on the sidewalks to educate the student population.

Wisconsin will play a bigger role in the Democratic nomination process this year by moving its primary election date up to Feb. 17.

Iowa is the first of the state caucuses and, along with New Hampshire, is very influential in deciding who could be the Democratic Party’s nominee. Iowa residents will elect delegates, alternates and convention committee members to the county conventions. Each delegate represents a percentage of support from a precinct for a presidential candidate.