In a strongly worded editorial released Wednesday night, Iowa’s top newspaper rebuked the state’s Democratic party for the questions surrounding Monday’s Democratic caucus results.
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The Iowa Democratic Party must act quickly to assure the accuracy of the caucus results, beyond a shadow of a doubt. “Monday’s caucuses were a unique event that involved more than 171,000 Iowans and their neighbors at a specific time and place, and thus they can not be re-created or recounted”, the party’s communications director, Sam Lau, said in a statement, Talking Points Memo reported. “We have received a small amount of flags from both the Sanders and Clinton campaigns, and we are addressing each on a case-by-case basis by working with our county leaders”. “Too many of us, including members of the Register editorial board who were observing caucuses, saw opportunities for error amid Monday night’s chaos”, the editorial board said.
Bernie Sanders in Iowa in January. “We will look into these concerns and reach out to our county party leadership with any questions”.
“The results were too close not to do a complete audit of results”, the editorial board of the Register wrote, three days after Clinton narrowly edged out Sen.
Hugh Sheridan, an Oakland Acres resident who caucused with the Kellogg Democratic precinct, said a coin flip was used to determine how many delegates candidates Bernie Sanders and Martin O’Malley will take to the March 12 county convention. Individuals then assemble in different groups to indicate which candidate they support.
“I agree with the Des Moines Register, but let’s not blow this out of proportion”, Sanders said.
Though the national news media might be shifting attention to New Hampshire’s primary on Tuesday, Sanders supporters can’t forget about Iowa. “Senator Sanders is committed to the democratic process and believes we should do all we can to get a full picture and accurate numbers from Monday night”. Her Iowa campaign manager, Matt Paul, wrote a post online earlier Friday titled, “Hillary Clinton won Iowa”. Although Andy McGuire, the chair of the Iowa Democratic party, is a longtime Clinton supporter whose license plate once read HRC 2016, no one familiar with the issue has accused the error of being a partisan process.
While one delegate wouldn’t change the course of the Iowa Democratic Caucus, it provides credence to calls to audit the results. After the recount, eight precincts’ votes remained missing.
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And then call for a blue ribbon commission to study how to improve the caucuses, as the Republican Party of Iowa did after its own fiasco in 2012.
