The morning after the Iowa caucuses, the state Democratic party is yet to release official results as the candidates touch down in New Hampshire.
Confusion and chaos reigned into the evening as it became clear that there were significant issues with the reporting of results from caucuses across the state. Initially, the Iowa Democratic Party said it was performing “quality control” before releasing totals.
It eventually became clear that there was a problem with the mobile app precincts were using to report caucus results to state party headquarters. One precinct secretary tweeted that they had been on hold for more than one hour, waiting to phone in results after they were unable to report totals through the application.
As the clock struck midnight in Des Moines, officials said they were hoping for results to come “some time Tuesday,” though it was not immediately clear when that would be. In a very brief press call early Tuesday morning, Iowa Democratic Party chair Troy Price did not take questions.
No matter who won Monday night’s contest, any opportunity for a bounce in media coverage has evaporated with Donald Trump’s state of the union dress looming this evening.
Bernie Sanders’ campaign early Tuesday morning released results its precinct captains had collected throughout the night, showing Sanders with a lead in the state.
According to Sanders’ figures from 40 percent of the total precincts across the state, the Vermont Senator won 298 state delegate equivalents, or 28.62 percent.
“We recognize that this does not replace the full data from the Iowa Democratic Party, but we believe firmly that our supporters worked too hard for too long to have the results of that work delayed,” Sanders’ senior campaign adviser Jeff Weaver said in a statement.
At 2am, Polk County Democratic Party chair Sean Bagniewski was going through every precinct box with volunteers from the Buttigieg, Klobuchar, Sanders and Warren campaigns at county party headquarters. He said the results would be sent to the state party “so we can finally go to bed.”
While the result from the Iowa caucuses is far from clear, the candidates will begin campaigning in New Hampshire on Tuesday. The Granite State holds its primary on Tuesday 11 February.
An Emerson College poll released amidst the chaos of the caucuses in Iowa showed Bernie Sanders with a nine point lead in the state.
