WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Iowa Democratic Party on Sunday evening voted to move its caucuses to January 3, joining state Republicans who have already approved that date for their own nominating event.
The Iowa Democrats' decision is one of the final pieces of the presidential nominating calendar puzzle to fall into place. New Hampshire still has not set a date for its primary, but New Hampshire Secretary of State William Gardner could make an announcement once the presidential primary filing period in his state closes Friday.
With Iowa now scheduled to hold its contests January 3, Gardner could choose January 8 as the date for the New Hampshire primary.
Iowa Republicans and Democrats were originally scheduled to hold their caucuses January 14. The state parties, however, moved to January 3 because other states such as Michigan and individual state parties including the South Carolina Republican Party moved their primaries to mid-January.
New Hampshire was scheduled to hold its primary January 22 under the original calendar.
Iowa and New Hampshire have traditionally been the first states to cast votes for the Democratic and Republican presidential nominees, and have worked hard to protect this privileged status.
As it now stands, there could be a total of 14 presidential nominating contests in January leading up to February 5, commonly referred to as "Super Tuesday." On this day, more than 20 states will cast votes for the next Democratic and Republican presidential nominees.
The major Democratic candidates have agreed not to participate in the Michigan and Florida primaries because these states violate the Democratic National Committee's rules prohibiting any states other than Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina from holding nominating contests before February 5. E-mail to a friend 
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