Tom Perez, the head of the Democratic National Committee Chair, said Thursday that Iowa’s Democratic Party needs to conduct a recanvass of the state following confusion and delayed results during this week’s caucus.
With nearly all the results in, former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) had 26.2 percent and 26.1 percent, respectively, of the Iowa state delegate equivalents. Officials blamed the delay in the caucus results on a vote-recording app on Monday night.
“Enough is enough. In light of the problems that have emerged in the implementation of the delegate selection plan and in order to assure public confidence in the results, I am calling on the Iowa Democratic Party to immediately begin a recanvass,” Perez wrote on Thursday afternoon.
Enough is enough. In light of the problems that have emerged in the implementation of the delegate selection plan and in order to assure public confidence in the results, I am calling on the Iowa Democratic Party to immediately begin a recanvass.
— Tom Perez (@TomPerez) February 6, 2020
Perez didn’t give any details or the specifics of what a potential recanvass would bring.
“A recanvass is a review of the worksheets from each caucus site to ensure accuracy,” he said before adding that the state Democratic Party “will continue to report results.”
Perez’s post on Twitter came shortly after a New York Times report injected more controversy into the Iowa debacle. In an analysis, the newspaper found that Wednesday’s poll results had errors and inconsistencies, but it noted that there wasn’t any evidence it was intentional.
The caucus results were not immediately available on Monday evening, but they have slowly been released in the days since then. Shadow Inc., which created the election app, issued a statement this week, with CEO Gerard Niemira saying he felt “terrible” for the mishap.
“I’m really disappointed that some of our technology created an issue that made the caucus difficult,” he said.
Earlier this week, Perez addressed the app failure, writing that Iowa’s caucus delay “should never happen again” and “we have staff working around the clock to assist the Iowa Democratic Party to ensure that all votes are counted.”
Buttigieg declared victory Monday after no results were released, which prompted consternation among his rivals, including Sanders.
“By all indications, we are going onto New Hampshire victorious,” Buttigieg told supporters on Monday. His campaign later said it was citing internal data.
Meanwhile, the current caucus results show Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) in third with 18.2 percent of the total equivalents, former Vice President Joe Biden in fourth with 15.8 percent, and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) at fifth with 12.2 percent.
Biden, who was widely seen as the Democratic frontrunner last year, addressed the dismal showing.
“I’m not going to sugarcoat it: We took a gut punch in Iowa,” Biden told supporters at a rally in New Hampshire on Wednesday. “The whole process took a gut punch. But look, this isn’t the first time in my life I’ve been knocked down.”
New Hampshire votes in the Democratic primary on Feb. 11.
From The Epoch Times
