3 Days Later and 3% of the Results Still Not In

The Iowa caucus was a disaster for the Democrats. From coin flips to choose a winner, to delaying the results for “quality control,” the Democrats in charge have made a mockery of our democratic system. Regardless on which side of the aisle one resides, all should be frustrated and concerned this happened.

An embarrassment in Iowa

Americans participating in the caucus even had spectators from different countries watching our political process play out in real time. Everyone who watched wanted to see a process to showcase our democratic values. Sadly, they did not even get to see the results of that process, nor did the American people. What they could have seen is more than one coin flip being made to determine which candidate would receive Iowa delegates.

This was an absolute embarrassment for the Democrats and our democracy. The numbers taken were on paper ballots and then registered on an app called Shadow. This app supposedly had malfunctions and the party declared they were doing “quality control” on the vote tallies. The next day, after almost a full 24-hour period, the party was only able to come up with 62 percent of the votes.

Ironically Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s campaign had a contract with the firm that developed the app blamed for the Iowa caucus delays. According to The Washington Examiner, Federal Election Commission filings shows Buttigieg’s campaign paid over $100,000 to the firm in charge of the app. The Washington Examiner also states that a spokesman for Buttigieg’s campaign said it paid the firm for “text messaging services to help us contact voters.”

The confusion continues

A great and still unanswered question is who the Iowa winner is. Buttigieg declared victory without any of the numbers even coming out yet. Now Bernie also claims having a “very strong victory” in Iowa.

Pete Buttigieg had the lead in the early polling results at 26.9% with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) close behind at 25.1%. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) was in third with 18.3% and Biden in fourth place with 15.6%. Yang polled at one percent while Tom Steyer, Mike Bloomberg, and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) are at less than one percent. Finally, three days after the caucus, 97 percent of the results are in with Buttigieg and Sanders leading the pack, but, still, not all the results are in.

So, who really won?

The confusion has not relinquished its mighty grip over the Iowa results yet as news sites are mixed in presenting the leader between Mayor Pete and Bernie in both percentage, total votes, and State Delegate Equivalent (SDE). NPR shows Pete with 26.2%, 42,235 votes, and 550 SDE. They show Bernie has 26.1%, 44,763 votes, and 547 SDE. ABC rounded their percent, so they list both at 26%, but show Pete with 55,034 votes to Bernie’s 54,687. The Iowa Democrat Party site lists only SDE and has 550.339 for Pete and 546.912 for Bernie. We do know 11 delegates each will go to Buttigieg and Sanders, while Warren picked up 5. The rest of the candidates head into New Hampshire with no delegates to tout to their supporters.

After this debacle, Tom Perez, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, has called for a recanvass in Iowa. At this rate, we will probably have the full results to report on within the next couple of months.