The Associated Press said Thursday that it is unable to declare a winner in Iowa's Democratic caucuses after irregularities and inconsistencies marred the results.

With 97 percent of precincts reporting, former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg Pete ButtigiegBogeymen of the far left deserve a place in any Biden administration Overnight Defense: Woodward book causes new firestorm | Book says Trump lashed out at generals, told Woodward about secret weapons system | US withdrawing thousands of troops from Iraq A socially and environmentally just way to fight climate change MORE leads Sen. Bernie Sanders Bernie SandersSenate Republicans signal openness to working with Biden Hillicon Valley: DOJ indicts Chinese, Malaysian hackers accused of targeting over 100 organizations | GOP senators raise concerns over Oracle-TikTok deal | QAnon awareness jumps in new poll Schumer, Sanders call for Senate panel to address election security MORE (I-Vt.) in the first-in-the-nation caucus state by just 1/10th of a percentage point. Both candidates have declared victory in the caucuses, with Sanders becoming the latest to do so on Thursday.

“The Associated Press calls a race when there is a clear indication of a winner. Because of a tight margin between former Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Sen. Bernie Sanders and the irregularities in this year’s caucus process, it is not possible to determine a winner at this point,” said Sally Buzbee, the AP’s senior vice president and executive editor, according to the news outlet.

ADVERTISEMENT

The full caucus results have been delayed for days following reporting irregularities and technical difficulties with an app used by caucus officials to send tallies to the state party in Des Moines.

Since then, the Iowa Democratic Party has gradually released partial results, though new concerns have emerged about the accuracy of those tallies after reports of errors and inconsistencies.

The mounting concerns about the precision of the count prompted Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairman Tom Perez Thomas Edward PerezClinton’s top five vice presidential picks Government social programs: Triumph of hope over evidence Labor’s 'wasteful spending and mismanagement” at Workers’ Comp MORE to call for a recanvassing of the vote on Thursday. Such a recanvass would mean reviewing the worksheets used by each caucus site, a process that would surely delay the results even longer.

The Iowa Democratic Party has said that it is prepared to recanvass the results if one of the candidates requests that it do so.

An analysis of the results that have been released so far shows a number of errors and inconsistencies, some of which appear to contradict the Iowa Democratic Party’s caucus rules.

ADVERTISEMENT

One example in Indianola’s second precinct in Warren County, first identified by The New York Times, shows Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren Elizabeth WarrenNo new taxes for the ultra rich — fix bad tax policy instead Democrats back away from quick reversal of Trump tax cuts It's time for newspapers to stop endorsing presidential candidates MORE (D-Mass.) picking up support on the final caucus alignment even though neither was recorded as viable in the first alignment — an apparent violation of caucus rules.

In the same precinct, two other candidates, Tom Steyer Tom SteyerTV ads favored Biden 2-1 in past month Inslee calls Biden climate plan 'perfect for the moment' OVERNIGHT ENERGY: Trump administration finalizes plan to open up Alaska wildlife refuge to drilling | California finalizes fuel efficiency deal with five automakers, undercutting Trump | Democrats use vulnerable GOP senators to get rare win on environment MORE and former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick Deval PatrickRalph Gants, chief justice of Massachusetts supreme court, dies at 65 It's as if a Trump operative infiltrated the Democratic primary process Top Democratic super PACs team up to boost Biden MORE, lost votes in the final alignment, even though both were apparently viable in the first alignment.

The Iowa Democratic Party has already identified and corrected some mistakes in the reporting process.

Still, the candidates have expressed frustration with the reporting issues in Iowa. Speaking to reporters in New Hampshire on Thursday, Sanders criticized the Iowa Democratic Party as “unprepared.”

“They put forth such a complicated process, relied on untested technology,” he said, later adding, “What will not happen again if I have anything to say about it is a caucus this complicated.”

Updated at 7 p.m.