Iowa Dems certify results of troubled presidential caucuses

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The Iowa Democratic Party central committee on Saturday certified the results of the 2020 presidential caucuses, nearly a month after a faulty mobile app and other problems delayed counting and prompted calls for Iowa to lose its status as the first-in-the-nation presidential nominating contest.

The Iowa Democratic Party in a news release says the results now go to the Democratic National Committee, and the state party will continue to follow the rules and procedures outlined.

On Thursday, the party released updated results after the completion of a recount requested by the campaigns of Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg. Those results showed Buttigieg had 562.954 state delegate equivalents and Sanders had 562.021, out of 2,151 counted. That is a margin of 0.04 percentage points.

The Associated Press opted not to call a winner, given remaining concerns about whether the results as reported by the party were fully accurate. The Feb. 3 caucuses were beset by technical glitches that led to a delay in reporting the results, inconsistencies in the numbers and no clear winner.

Iowa awards 41 national delegates in its caucuses. Following Saturday’s certification, Buttigieg had 14 delegates and Sanders had 12. Elizabeth Warren won eight, Joe Biden won six and Amy Klobuchar won one.

Iowa Democratic Party Chairman Troy Price resigned after the caucus fiasco, saying Democrats deserved better and that he bore responsibility for any failures. The state party selected Iowa state Rep. Mark Smith as his interim replacement.