By Jackson Chadwick | Image courtesy of Amir Prellberg/Freelance for The Gazette
Monday marked the ever-intriguing Iowa Democratic Caucus, the first in the nation, held every 4 years. Iowa, which voted for former President Obama in ‘08 and ‘12, but swung to President Trump by over 10% in ‘16, remains a somewhat competitive state. Though it tilts slightly Republican, Democrats have not been shy about making Iowa a priority for their campaigns during the nomination process, but the general election, too. In 2018, Democrats came close to clinching the governorship and currently represent 3 of the 4 congressional districts there.
As thousands of people waited Monday night for the results to come in, nearly no one knew that the results would take hours, even days, to be reported. As of Thursday afternoon, 97% of precincts have been reported, and the results show a close race. On Tuesday, former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg led Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders by slightly under 2%, which translated into only several dozen state delegates equivalents. Today, Buttigieg leads Sanders by 0.1% or 3 state delegate equivalents. But, Sanders declared victory earlier today, after consistently leading in the popular vote count.
As of Thursday, Buttigieg had been awarded 550 delegates; Sanders on 547; Warren on 381; Biden on 331; Klobuchar on 255; Yang on 22; and Steyer on 7. Out of all candidates, Sanders, Buttigieg, Warren, Biden, and Klobuchar won counties, as seen below. Some counties are still currently tied as we await the final precinct results.
Courtesy of The New York Times
Since Monday night, more precincts from the Des Moines area have been reported. Many of these precincts report Sanders with the most votes, thus boosting his total state delegate equivalents. Simply, state delegate equivalents are the number of delegates won by each candidate in certain precincts. They will eventually go to the state convention and help select delegates to the national convention this July in Milwaukee.
A caucus is run much differently than a primary election. It has different rules, protocols, and a completely different format. In a primary election, one simply goes to vote by secret ballot. In a caucus, like Iowa’s, residents within a certain precinct go to a public hall, or gymnasium, where they’re placed into groups based on their candidate of choice. As it pertains to this year’s Iowa caucuses, candidates had to have 15% support in each precinct to be viable and receive delegates. Candidates below 15% were immediately unviable, and those supporters could choose from supporting another candidate or going home. If this were to happen, the caucus would go through a round of re-alignment. In many precincts, there were several rounds of re-alignment.
Based on the results so far, Senator Sanders did well in the first initial count across Iowa. But as certain candidates failed to reach 15% in particular precincts, and thus their supporters chose someone else to support, Mayor Buttigieg ended up with the lead after the several rounds of realignment.
Normally, precinct captains would call the results into the Iowa state Democratic party. Unlike previous years, the party hired a firm to design an app from which precinct captains could enter the results on, instead of calling them in. But due to an error in the coding system of the app, the party was rendered ineffective in releasing the results.
The delay in results being reported has sparked outrage, confusion, and general embarrassment among Democratic party officials in Iowa and across the country. Today, DNC Chairman Tom Perez stated the following:
“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 the past three days, numerous editorials have been published calling for the end of caucuses, not just in Iowa, but across the country. Indeed, since the 2016 election, multiple states have passed measures removing caucuses and replacing them with the more widely-used primary systems. Many argue this switch is not only more efficient to the process as a whole, but to increasing voter turnout as well. In her perspective published in The Washington Post, Suffolk University Associate Professor and Political Science & Legal Studies department Chair Rachael Cobb argues for the removal of caucuses and the implementation of an alternative. She writes:
“Whether a state adopts a primary or a caucus is the prerogative of individual states. It is unlikely that the national party would attempt to impose its will on states. So the 2020 Iowa caucuses fiasco offers the Iowa Democratic Party a chance to shift gears and make changes in time for 2024. The party should eliminate the caucuses. This shift will expand the electorate, make the results more representative and eliminate the challenges associated with caucuses.”
The removal of caucuses may come sooner than later. But as it stands now, what’s done is done. Both Sanders and Buttigieg have something to walk away with: Sanders winning the popular vote with Buttigieg winning the state delegates. With Sen. Warren in 3rd place, former Vice President Biden in 4th, and Sen. Klobuchar pundits are watching their campaigns to see how they do in the New Hampshire primary this Tuesday. Hopefully, it will be an exciting time, but with less (nerve-wracking) surprises.