(Final Update) DES MOINES, Iowa – The Iowa Democratic Party released on Thursday evening results from all 1765 precincts that leaves former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg and U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders in a virtual tie with Buttigieg barely edging out Sanders by two in the final count.
Results were reported gradually since Tuesday afternoon with the party having to re-release some of those results on Wednesday due to inconsistencies.
DNC Chair Tom Perez called for a recanvass of the results. “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,” he said in a tweet Thursday morning.
“A recanvass is a review of the worksheets from each caucus site to ensure accuracy. The IDP will continue to report results,” Perez added in a second tweet.
The results reflect statewide delegate equivalents (SDE) given in the final realignment. Buttigieg, Sanders, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, and U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar all received national delegates in Iowa. More delegates are yet to be awarded. Iowa Democrats award 41 pledged delegates at the national convention.
- Pete Buttigieg – 564 (26.2 percent) – 11 Delegates
- Bernie Sanders – 562 (26.1 percent) – 11 Delegates
- Elizabeth Warren – 387 (18.0 percent) – 5 Delegates
- Joe Biden – 341 (15.9 percent) – 2 Delegates
- Amy Klobuchar – 264 (12.3 percent) – 1 Delegate
- Andrew Yang – 22 (1.0 percent)
- Tom Steyer – 7 (0.3 percent)
Sanders won over 6,000 more votes votes in the first round, over 2600 in the second round, but Buttigieg won the SDE count. This is so because he won or received delegates in more precincts than Sanders did. Sanders won more populous precincts and thus winning more votes, but since SDE is awarded at the precinct level the rules reward candidates who win more precincts all over the state. Precincts are given one delegate for every 100 voters that attend their caucus.
| First Round | Second Round | SDE | |
| 1. Sanders | 43,671 (24.8%) | 45,826 (26.6%) | 564 |
| 2. Buttigieg | 37,557 (21.3%) | 43,195 (25.0%) | 562 |
| 3. Warren | 32,533 (18.4%) | 34,771 (20.2%) | 387 |
| 4. Biden | 26,384 (15.0%) | 23,691 (13.7%) | 341 |
| 5. Klobuchar | 22,469 (12.7%) | 21,181 (12.3%) | 264 |
| 6. Yang | 8,821 (5.0%) | 1,7 (1.800%) | 22 |
| 7. Steyer | 3,083 (1.7%) | 413 (0.2%) | 7 |
| 8. Gabbard | 334 (0.2%) | 17 (0.0%) | |
| 9. Bloomberg | 217 (0.1%) | 20 (0.0%) | |
| 10. Bennet | 164 (0.1%) | 4 (0.0%) | |
| 11. Patrick | 50 (0.0%) | 0 (0.0%) | |
| 12. Delaney | 10 (0.0%) | 0 (0.0%) |
Iowa Democratic Party Chair Troy Price apologized for the delay of the results in a press conference shortly before the release of partial results on Tuesday afternoon. He said that the party encountered reporting problems with the app, but emphasized that Iowa Democrats had a paper trail for all of the precinct result reports.
Price explained that the raw data sent to the app was always secure, but that there was a coding problem.
“The one thing that I want you to know. We know this data is accurate,” he told reporters. “We also have a paper trail, documentation, that have been able to provide information to help verify the results.”
“We want Iowans to be confident in the results and process, and we are going to take the time we need to make sure that we do just that,” Price stated.
When asked about the possibility of Iowa losing its first in the nation status, he said, “That’s a conversation that takes place every four years, and there’s no doubt that is a conversation that will take place again. My focus in to make sure that we get these results out and we will continue to do that, and we will have results out as soon as well can.”
Price also said the Iowa Democratic Party would have “a thorough and independent review to get to the bottom of what happened.”
Iowa’s Democratic members of Congress, U.S. Reps. Abby Finkenauer, Dave Loebsack, and Cindy Axne released on Tuesday afternoon a joint response to the delay.
The Iowa Caucuses are the foundation of how our parties and our nation select their next President, and generations of Iowa voters know how seriously we all take that responsibility. This situation is disappointing, and requires accountability and transparency moving forward.
We must ensure complete accuracy so that every Iowan’s voice is heard and counted, and we thank the many volunteers that have now worked night and day to finalize a result that the nation and the whole world can know is fair.
For almost a half century, candidates for the highest office in the land have come to Iowa to present their visions for America to Independents, Republicans, and Democrats alike. As Iowan’s voices in the U.S. House of Representatives, we know how important it is that our constituents came together last night to participate in what should be a trustworthy and efficient process, and this deserves to be done right.
Originally published at 4:40pm on Tuesday, February 4, 2020. This article will be updated until all of the results are released.
