Iowa Caucus Chaos: Results Not Released Due to ‘Inconsistencies in the Reporting’

Iowa Caucus Chaos: Results Not Released Due to ‘Inconsistencies in the Reporting’

What a way for the Democrats to begin their 2020 election season! They still do not have a winner in the Iowa caucuses due to “inconsistencies in the reporting:”

“In addition to the tech systems being used to tabulate results, we are also using photos of results and a paper trail to validate that all results match and ensure that we have confidence and accuracy in the numbers we report,” Mandy McClure, the state party’s communications director, said in a statement.

She said a mobile app used to record and report results from each caucus site “did not go down and this is not a hack or an intrusion. The underlying data and paper trail is sound and will simply take time to further report the results.”

The Iowa Democratic Party (IDP) said it will name a winner later on Tuesday, but did not specify a time.

One campaign staffer described a call with the IDP as “crazy” because the officials did not answer any questions and hung up on them.

The officials also did not explain to the campaigns how they will verify the results.

Former Vice President Joe Biden lashed out at the IDP:

“The app that was intended to relay Caucus results to the Party failed; the Party’s back-up telephonic reporting system likewise has failed,” the campaign wrote in a letter. “Now, we understand that Caucus Chairs are attempting to — and, in many cases, failing to — report results telephonically to the Party. These acute failures are occurring statewide. We appreciate that you plan to brief the campaigns momentarily on these issues, and we plan to participate. However, we believe that the campaigns deserve full explanations and relevant information regarding the methods of quality control you are employing, and an opportunity to respond, before any official results are released.”

An aide to Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) said, “With every passing minute that there is a delay, we worry that the process will lose credibility.”

However, an aide to former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg claimed victory:

“Seventy-seven percent of our precinct captains have reported results from their caucuses,” a Buttigieg aide told Fox News, noting that previous projections “had the race at a virtual tie on state delegate equivalents, but from the 77 percent of reported precincts, we’re performing 8 points better than our projections.”

The aide added: “We believe we’re on our way to winning the SDE [State Delegate Equivalent] count. In the 1,301 precincts our precinct captains have reported, Pete reached viability in 1,064 (83 percent). For additional context, turnout returned to historical norms and we expect participation rates to wind up near 2016 levels. We found that our support in rural parts of the state was ~5 percent better than we expected (coming in at 28 percent so far.)”

Then this happened:

Unreal. A precinct secretary was on hold on the hotline for an hour and they took him off hold as he was talking to CNN. He didn't respond fast enough and they hung up on him. pic.twitter.com/hPgKhDge7i

— Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) February 4, 2020

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