This past week, two of the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates declared themselves the winners of the Iowa caucus. The Iowa Democratic Party declared nothing at all.
The Iowa caucus is the first round of primaries during the presidential election cycle. Usually, the final vote is counted within a few hours after the caucus begins; however, this year, partially due to the technical faults of a newly implemented app, the vote was delayed by more than three days.
Officially nobody wins Iowa. After Tuesday, the small, non representative white states are over. The DNC will be under massive pressure to change the primary order by 2024 if they want POC to stay engaged in this process. https://t.co/BxgLt2geGa
— Marcus H. Johnson (@marcushjohnson) February 6, 2020
The results for the 1,765 precincts were supposed to be submitted through the app, but instead, only about a quarter of those precincts used the app to report their final votes. With a reported lack of training along with connectivity failures, many precincts found themselves unable to report their final vote count. Caucus chairs who were unable to download or properly use the app attempted to call the Iowa caucus hotline, which quickly became overwhelmed with calls from both the precincts and individuals attempting to stall the process. Additionally, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) reported unspecified “coding issues” with the app’s pilot run during the caucus that created inconsistencies in the vote tallies.
The good news from the #IowaCaucuses is that there are paper records marked by hand to confirm results. But the problems w: the app undermined voter confidence & are hopefully a learning moment. We must minimize unnecessary use of electronics in elections. #HandMarkedPaperBallots https://t.co/DpB450Wux8
— Jennifer Cohn ✍️ (@jennycohn1) February 4, 2020
Mayor Pete is leading Bernie in the #IowaCaucuses
— Kayleigh McEnany (@kayleighmcenany) February 4, 2020
Pete contributed tens of thousands of dollars to the app creator whose “coding error” caused the delay last night
Mayor Pete also declared victory long before vote totals were released.
Curious indeed!https://t.co/t31dTwPtrI
Partial results were released on Tuesday afternoon, with 62% of precincts reporting. As of Friday Afternoon, 99% of precincts were reporting with Sanders closing in on Buttigieg, narrowing it to a 0.1% lead by Buttigieg. Buttigieg has claimed 13 delegates, with Sanders claiming 12, Warren claiming eight, Biden claiming six, and Klobuchar claiming one. Sanders also maintained a significant lead over the rest of the candidates in terms of the popular vote, garnering support from 24.8% of reported caucus-goers.
Monday night, Buttigieg claimed victory in the caucus with 0% of precincts reporting. Thursday, Sanders claimed victory over the popular vote. Iowa Democratic officials have yet to claim a definitive victor, with DNC Chair Tom Perez calling for a recanvass of Monday’s caucus as concerns over vote count inconsistencies grew.
Iowa, you have shocked the nation.
— Pete Buttigieg (@PeteButtigieg) February 4, 2020
By all indications, we are going on to New Hampshire victorious. #IowaCaucuses
I want to thank the people of Iowa for the very strong victory they gave us at the Iowa caucuses on Monday night.
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) February 6, 2020
Some 6,000 more Iowans came out to support us than any other candidate.
With eight strong candidates competing, that is a decisive margin of victory.
The implications of this presidential cycle’s failed Iowa caucus cannot be overlooked. Because of the delayed results, the winner of the caucus was denied the paramount publicity that comes with victory in the first real vote of the presidential cycle. No prime time television victory speech, no next-day front-page headline, no exciting chatter about the first official “frontrunner” of the Democratic race. Instead, the major publicity surrounding the caucus is almost entirely focused on the faults of the new system instituted by the Iowa Democrats, leaving the integrity and competence of the DNC to be questioned by an already divided party.
Pete went on stage, claimed an unearned victory, media ran with it for an entire week leading to an uptick in media coverage, donations & polling numbers for Pete then at the 11th hour when it looks like Sanders actually won, the DNC steps in to delay it even more. Incredible.
— jordan (@JordanUhl) February 6, 2020
This Iowa shit is a good indicator that under no circumstances (even the circumstances of Bernie dominating the primary) will Tom Perez & the DNC leaders let Sanders get the nomination without exhausting every illegitimate & undemocratic weapon within their arsenal of party power
— Mike Prysner (@MikePrysner) February 7, 2020
SHAME ON YOU @BERNIESANDERS and @AOC How dare you call what the @DNC did in IOWA a #SCREW-UP. You should be shamed out of your party for saying that about the @DNC pic.twitter.com/CkB2LRYDIb
— ACQUITTED by a verdict of not GUILTY by SENATE (@VotesWe) February 6, 2020
#BernieWonIA
— AZMomma Berns (@jilliansw) February 7, 2020
2016 DNC: we're going do everything in our power to sabotage Bernie & his supporters.
2020 DNC: Hold my beer
2016 Berners: can you believe this shit? Never Again!
2020 Berners: When we said Never Again we weren't joking 💪🔥👊
We are done with the games