Rick Santorum was the actual victor in the Iowa caucus, according to the final results released by the Republican Party of Iowa.

The final count placed Santorum ahead of Romney by 34 votes. The news of Santorum’s win was announced with the fact that eight precinct’s votes were missing, ending the caucus on an open-ended note.

“This is just another reminder that the Iowa Caucuses are not a government-run, official election,” wrote Dianne Bystrom, director of the Carrie Chapman-Catt Center via email. “The caucuses are more informal, political party events that in recent years have attracted a lot of national media attention because they are the first test of presidential candidate strength. With all the media spotlight, the political parties may need to adapt stricter processes in running the caucuses and collecting and tabulating the results.”

Santorum’s final win does nothing to change the fact that it was a close election, according to David Peterson, associate professor of political science. The only impact that he sees from this outcome is a potential change in the narrative underlying this election.

“The only way it could end up mattering is … if Romney doesn’t win South Carolina,” Peterson said. “Four days ago the narrative was that Romney won Iowa, Romney won New Hampshire, Romney is going to win South Carolina, it’s over. … So it can make a difference in so far as it fits into the narrative that comes out of the South Carolina primary, and it can be a piece to that story, but South Carolina is going to be the determining part of what happens in the narrative instead.”

Along with the news that Santorum and Romney had tied for state victories, Texas governor Rick Perry announced Thursday that he is suspending his campaign and endorsing former Speaker Newt Gingrich.

With Gingrich and Romney neck-in-neck in recent South Carolina polls, Perry’s endorsement might have come at the right time to derail Romney’s momentum in the election.

“Every other candidate who has dropped out of the race who has endorsed someone has endorsed Romney,” Peterson said. “Now at least someone is backing Gingrich, which can potentially give him a boost in South Carolina.”

Given Gingrich’s recent surge in South Carolina, his similarities with Santorum might play to his advantage at a time when voters against Romney are looking for a candidate who would be able to defeat him.

“So if you’re faced with that choice [between Santorum and Gingrich], you’re going to go where you can stop Romney,” Peterson said. “If you believe the narrative that this is the last chance to stop Romney, then I think it will go to Gingrich. In fact, some of the Santorum people might shift and move over to Gingrich, sort of counter to what happened in Iowa, where the Gingrich people shifted and went over to Santorum.”