DNC Chair takes to Twitter to call for recanvass of Iowa Democratic caucus results

Students and community members gathered to caucus Feb. 3 in the Sun Room of the Memorial Union.

Jake Webster

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) again intervened in the Iowa Democratic Party’s (IDP) count of the Democratic caucuses that took place Monday.

“Enough is enough,” said DNC Chair Tom Perez in a tweet. “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 a second tweet that came after less than an hour later, Perez clarified what he meant by a recanvass.

“A recanvass is a review of the worksheets from each caucus site to ensure accuracy,” Perez said in the tweet. “The IDP will continue to report results.”

The IDP’s count of Monday’s caucus results has been plagued by unprecedented delays and errors in reporting. As of 1 p.m. Thursday, 97 percent of precinct results were tabulated, though Nate Cohn, a New York Times analyst, has raised questions regarding the veracity of those results, and the IDP itself acknowledged it had released results with errors in a tweet Wednesday before fixing them.

Following Perez’s intervention into the count, the IDP Chair Troy Price released a statement in response Thursday afternoon, less than an hour after Perez’s second tweet.

“While I fully acknowledge that the reporting circumstances on Monday night were unacceptable, we owe it to the thousands of Iowa Democratic volunteers and caucusgoers to remain focused on collecting and reviewing incoming results,” Price said in the statement. “Throughout the collection of records of results, the IDP identified inconsistencies in the data and used our redundant paper records to promptly correct those errors. This is an ongoing process in close coordination with precinct chairs, and we are working diligently to report the final 54 precincts to get as close to final reporting as possible.”

Price said in the statement if a candidate’s campaign were to request a recanvass in compliance with the IDP delegate selection plan, the IDP is prepared.

“In such a circumstance, the IDP will audit the paper records of report, as provided by the precinct chairs and signed by representatives of presidential campaigns,” Price said in the statement. “This is the official record of the Iowa Democratic caucus, and we are committed to ensuring the results accurately reflect the preference of Iowans.”

According to incomplete results with 97 percent of precincts reporting on the IDP’s results webpage, Pete Buttigieg maintains a lead of less than 0.2 percent of state delegate equivalents over Bernie Sanders, who has a lead in tabulations of first and final preferences of caucusgoers, which is effectively a popular vote. Elizabeth Warren trails in third.