DNC chair issues call for ‘recanvass’ of Iowa results
With 97% of precincts reporting, Bernie Sanders led Pete Buttigieg by the thinnest of margins and both candidates have declared themselves victorious. “Enough is enough,” party leader Tom Perez (pictured) said.
WASHINGTON — The chairman of the Democratic National Committee on Thursday called for a “recanvass” of the results of the Iowa caucuses, saying it was needed to “assure public confidence” after three days of technical issues and delays.
“Enough is enough,” party leader Tom Perez wrote on Twitter.
With 97% of precincts reporting, Pete Buttigieg, a former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders are nearly tied for the lead, and both candidates have declared themselves victorious.
The Associated Press said Thursday that it is unable to declare a winner in the contest. Beyond technical issues and Perez’s concerns, the Iowa Democratic Party has yet to report results from some satellite caucus sites, from which there are still an unknown number of state delegate equivalents to be won.
The state party apologized for technical glitches with an app that slowed down reporting of results from Monday’s caucuses and has spent the week trying to verify results. However, it was unclear if the state party planned to follow the directive of the national leader to recanvass those results. Iowa chairman Troy Price suggested in a statement Thursday that he would only pursue a recanvass if one was requested by a campaign.
The caucus crisis was an embarrassing twist after months of promoting Iowa as a chance for Democrats to find some clarity in a jumbled 2020 field. Instead, after a buildup that featured seven rounds of debates, nearly $1 billion spent nationwide and a year of political jockeying, caucus day ended with no winner and no official results.
Campaigning in New Hampshire, Sanders called the Iowa Democratic Party’s management of the caucuses a “screw-up” that has been “extremely unfair” to the candidates and their supporters.
Iowa marked the first contest in a primary season that will span all 50 states and several U.S. territories, ending at the party’s national convention in July.
The trouble began with an app that the Iowa Democratic Party used to tabulate the results of the contest. The app was rolled out shortly before caucusing began and did not go through rigorous testing. The problems were compounded when phone lines for reporting the outcomes became jammed, with many callers placed on hold for hours in order to report outcomes.
Party officials said the backlog was exacerbated by calls from people around the country who accessed the number and appeared intent on disrupting the process.
“There was a moment in the night where, it became clear, ‘Oh, the phone number just became available to the entire country,’” said Iowa state Auditor Rob Sands, who was answering calls for the party. “It was a pretty big problem.”
President Donald Trump relished in the Democratic turmoil.
“The Democrats, they can’t count some simple votes and yet they want to take over your health care system,” Trump said at a White House event Thursday celebrating his impeachment trial acquittal. “Think of that — no, think of that.”
The chaos surrounding the reporting breakdown seems sure to blunt the impact of Iowa’s election, which typically rewards winners with a surge of momentum heading into subsequent primary contests. But without a winner called, Democrats have quickly turned their focus to New Hampshire, which holds the next voting contest on Tuesday.