WASHINGTON, D.C. – The head of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) is now calling for the Iowa Democratic Party (IDP) to begin a recanvass of the results from Monday’s caucuses.
As of Thursday morning, the full results of the caucuses had still not been released. With 97 percent of precincts reporting, Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders were neck and neck for the most delegates.
In a tweet on Thursday, DNC Chairman Tom Perez wrote, "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."
In a following tweet, Perez clarified that "a recanvass is a review of the worksheets from each caucus site to ensure accuracy." He added that the IDP will continue to report results.
In response to Perez’ request, Chair Troy Price released a statement saying that the IDP will focus on collecting and reviewing the results from the 54 remaining precincts to get as close to final reporting as possible.
“While I fully acknowledge that the reporting circumstances on Monday night were unacceptable, we owe it to the thousands of Iowa Democratic volunteers and caucusgoers to remain focused on collecting and reviewing incoming results,” wrote Price.
Price went on to say that if any presidential campaign requests a recanvass, in compliance with the Iowa Delegate Selection Plan, the party is prepared to do so.
“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," wrote Price. "This is the official record of the Iowa Democratic caucus, and we are committed to ensuring the results accurately reflect the preference of Iowans.”
A spokesperson for the IDP said "inconsistencies" between the three sets of data were found when tabulating the results. Price said a “coding issue” caused the app used to tabulate the results to only report partial data.
Although not all results have been reported by the IDP, both Sanders and Buttigieg have claimed victory.
Sanders claimed victory on Twitter on Thursday.
“We won in Iowa because of the unprecedented grassroots effort of our campaign,” wrote Sanders. “Thousands of volunteers knocked on hundreds of thousands of doors in the cold and snow. I want to thank each and every volunteer who participated in that effort.”
As for Buttigieg, he declared victory Monday night, before any official results were released.
"So, we don't know all the results, but we know by the time, it's all said and done, Iowa you have shocked the nation. Because by all indications, we are going on to New Hampshire victorious," Buttigieg told supporters in Iowa.
Meanwhile, presidential candidates have moved on to New Hampshire, where the next primary contest will be held on Tuesday, Feb. 11.
