The 2016 Iowa Democratic precinct caucuses, which Hillary Clinton won, were the closest in history. | AP Photo Clinton's margin of victory shrinks to 0.25 after Iowa audit

MANCHESTER, N.H. -- Hillary Clinton still has defeated Bernie Sanders in the Iowa Democratic caucus, but an internal party review released Sunday found new errors in the original count that further narrowed her margin of victory — a result that’s likely to keep scrutiny on the caucus state while the rest of the country looks to New Hampshire.

The audit by the Iowa Democratic Party discovered errors in five of 14 precincts across the state from Monday’s caucuses that shrink Clinton’s overall advantage in the key delegate results to a 0.25 percent lead over Sanders, down from 0.27 percent.


Errors were found that affect the outcome in multiple directions for all three Democrats who participated in the caucus. Sanders picked up small additional totals of state delegate equivalents because of precinct mistakes in Marion, Woodbury and Poweshiek counties. Clinton netted a small increase because of a problem in a precinct in Story County. And Martin O’Malley, who withdrew from the race after his poor showing last Monday, also came out with additional delegate support because of errors in Osceola County.

While Sunday's changes haven't affected the overall Iowa caucus results, they are yet another inflection point for the two candidates as they battle for support in Tuesday's New Hampshire primary. Sanders leads Clinton in most polls by double-digit margins, and the razor-thin outcome in Iowa gives the Vermont senator's supporters more fuel as they talk up their underdog’s strength — and grumble about the Democratic “establishment’s” wish to defeat him.

Clinton’s camp was quick to claim a victory on Iowa caucus night, but Sanders’ team also made sure not to concede. His team has undertaken its own informal audit of the results, calling its captains in each of the state’s 1,681 precincts to verify the results since caucus day.

The Iowa Democratic caucus results were the closest in state history but also were plagued by poor internal planning, overcrowded facilities, technological breakdowns and a lack of volunteer training. A Des Moines Register op-ed published after the chaotic night called for a “complete audit” of the caucus results and blamed Democratic leaders in the party for mismanagement.

In a prepared statement released Sunday, Iowa Democratic Party Chair Andy McGuire didn’t address complaints about the problems surrounding the caucus process but promised to set up a committee “to ensure we can improve our caucus process while preserving what makes it special.”

Since the Iowa caucuses wrapped up, Clinton's campaign has worked to make sure voters — and reporters — understand the former secretary-of-state’s victory is unlikely to disappear. In a Medium post on Friday, Clinton state director Matt Paul decried the Vermont senator’s campaign’s “conspiracy theories,” which included claims before caucuses began that the Microsoft vote-tallying system was suspect.

Pete D’Alessandro, Sanders’ Iowa director, said in an interview Sunday that he welcomed the additional delegates that were put into the Vermont senator’s corner because of the errors.

“They’re…restricted by the system,” D'Allesandro said of the state Democratic party. "They did what they can do.”

He added that Sanders’ campaign plans to press the state party to further examine Monday’s caucus results as other errors are flagged. And it also would keep working to sway delegates into the Vermont senator’s corner as the Iowa process advances, first with a county convention March 12 and then district and state-level meetings in April and June, respectively.

