1 of 2 | 2020 Democratic presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg gather on stage for a debate in Des Moines, Iowa, on Jan. 14. The debate came three weeks before Iowa's first-in-the-nation caucuses on Feb. 3. Photo by Mike Theiler/UPI |
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Feb. 6 (UPI) -- Democratic candidates Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders were locked in a near tie as 100 percent of precincts reported in the Iowa caucus on Thursday.
Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Ind., garnered 26.20 percent of state delegate equivalents, while Sen. Sanders of Vermont received 26.13 percent, resulting in a virtual tie that awarded both candidates 11 delegates. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren received 18 percent and five delegates, former Vice President Joe Biden received 15. 8 percent and two delegates and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar received 12.3 percent and one delegate.
Businessmen Andrew Yang and Tom Steyer received 1 percent and 0.3 percent respectively and were not awarded any delegates.
Results were delayed due to inconsistencies in their reporting after a new mobile phone app built by the company Shadow to tally the votes had to be checked against a paper trail. The Iowa Democratic Party said the app was not shut down or tampered with.
The New York Times analysis Thursday further showed failure to resolve "quality control issues."
"More than 100 precincts reported results that were internally inconsistent, that were missing data or that were not possible under the complex rules of the Iowa caucuses," the analysis found.
DNC Chair Tom Perez called Thursday for a recanvass of the Iowa caucuses after problems caused delays in reporting votes from Monday night.
Perez made the announcement on Twitter Thursday afternoon.
"Enough is enough," Perez tweeted. "In light of the problems that have emerged in the implementation of the delegate selection plan and in order to ensure public confidence in the results, I am calling on the Iowa Democratic Party to immediately begin a recanvass."
The Iowa Democratic Party responded in a statement without mentioning Perez or the DNC.
"Should any presidential campaign in compliance with the Iowa Delegate Selection Plan request a recanvass, the IDP is prepared," Troy Price, state party chair, said in a statement. "In such a circumstance, the IDP will audit the paper records of report, as provided by the precinct chairs and signed by representatives of presidential campaigns."
Despite the state delegate equivalents, Sanders declared victory Thursday, arguing that he had a significant advantage in the popular vote and accused the media of placing too much emphasis on standard delegate equivalent counts to proclaim the winner.
"Even though the vote tabulations have been extremely slow, we are now at a point with some 97 percent of the precincts reporting where our campaign is winning the popular initial vote by some 6,000 votes," Sanders told reporters at his New Hampshire headquarters. "And when 6,000 more people come out for you in an election than your nearest opponent, we here in northern New England call that a victory."
Earlier in the week, Buttigieg declared victory and became the first openly gay candidate in U.S. history to earn presidential primary delegates toward a major party's nomination process, whatever the final results may show.
"It validates for a kid, somewhere in a community, wondering if he belongs, or she belongs, or they belong in their own family, that if you believe in yourself and your country, there's a lot backing up that belief," he said.
