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2020 Iowa Democratic caucuses (view source)
Revision as of 22:00, February 6, 2020
, 22:00, February 6, 2020Added to page
A poll by the ''Des Moines Register'', due to be released on February 1, was scrapped, the reason given being that Buttigieg was not included as an option in some of the questioning. This was the first time in 76 years that the ''Register'' did not release a pre-caucus poll.<ref>http://web.archive.org/web/20200202161638/https://www.politico.com/news/2020/02/01/des-moines-register-poll-not-released-after-apparent-mishap-110284</ref> FiveThirtyEight confirmed on February 3 that the poll results had unexpectedly showed Biden in fourth place, trailing Sanders, Warren, and Buttigieg, fueling speculation that the Biden campaign and/or higher-ups in the Democratic Party had forced the newspaper to suppress the poll.<ref>https://twitter.com/FiveThirtyEight/status/1224488173549604864</ref>
A poll by the ''Des Moines Register'', due to be released on February 1, was scrapped, the reason given being that Buttigieg was not included as an option in some of the questioning. This was the first time in 76 years that the ''Register'' did not release a pre-caucus poll.<ref>http://web.archive.org/web/20200202161638/https://www.politico.com/news/2020/02/01/des-moines-register-poll-not-released-after-apparent-mishap-110284</ref> FiveThirtyEight confirmed on February 3 that the poll results had unexpectedly showed Biden in fourth place, trailing Sanders, Warren, and Buttigieg, fueling speculation that the Biden campaign and/or higher-ups in the Democratic Party had forced the newspaper to suppress the poll.<ref>https://twitter.com/FiveThirtyEight/status/1224488173549604864</ref>
==Caucus Results==
Traditionally, results of the Iowa caucuses are known and verified on the same night they are held, usually within a few hours. This was not the case with the 2020 Democratic caucuses, however, as results from the various precincts failed to be announced. The lag in reporting was blamed on technical difficulties--unlike in the past when paper ballots and direct telephone calls to party headquarters had been used to verify results, for 2020 the Iowa Democratic Party used an "app" for the communication of results. Reports of difficulties experienced by precinct chairmen in using the app surfaced even before the beginning of the caucus vote on Monday evening, and following the vote, many of them were unable to send the results at all.
Late Monday night, the Iowa Democratic Party announced it would conduct a "quality control" on the vote count "out of an abundance of caution," and that announcement of the final results would be postponed. Partial results were not released until the following afternoon; with 62% of precincts reporting, these showed a narrow lead for Pete Buttigieg, with Bernie Sanders a close second. Elizabeth Warren came third, followed by Joe Biden in fourth--much to the surprise of many observers and even Biden staffers, who had not expected the former Vice-President to do so poorly.<ref>https://www.politico.com/news/2020/02/06/biden-iowa-campaign-111309</ref> More results trickled in over the next two days; while Warren, Biden, and other candidates did not change their relative positions, the gap between Buttigieg and Sanders narrowed considerably. As of Thursday, February 6, with 97% of precincts reporting, the actual winner of the caucus was still in doubt.
Further complicating matters was the fact that, while Buttigieg maintained a slight lead in that he had secured more delegates for the later conventions, Sanders had more actual votes. This fueled suspicion that the Democratic party leadership, doubting Sanders' ability to win a general election, had coordinated with the other campaigns to deny him delegates by diverting a few to those who were clearly losing. Additionally, it became clear that even the released numbers did not match those initially reported by many precincts, or in some cases even comply with the mathematical rules of the caucuses.<ref>https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/06/upshot/iowa-caucuses-errors-results.html</ref> On Thursday, Democratic National Committee Chair Tom Perez made a statement via [[Twitter]], calling on Iowa party officials to begin a recanvass of the caucus votes, citing the problems in "the implementation of the delegate selection plan" and the need to "assure public confidence in the results."<ref>https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/02/06/iowa-caucus-results-pete-buttigieg-bernie-sanders-close-delegate-race/4675289002/</ref>
==References==
==References==