Des Moines — The first signs of trouble in the Iowa Democratic caucuses emerged early on Monday afternoon when a handful of county chairs had problems downloading and logging onto a new app designed to report results.
Iowa Democratic Party officials emphasised that there was no “hack or intrusion” into the voting system. Yet inconsistencies in the reporting of three sets of results forced them to halt posting any outcome until late on Tuesday afternoon — almost 24 hours after voters first began gathering in churches, schools and gymnasiums to haggle over their choice for who would challenge President Donald Trump in November.
The disaster that unfolded overnight cast a pall on Iowa and its traditional position of holding the first presidential nominating contest, one that gives it outsized influence in shaping the early stages of the race. For the top four contenders — Bernie Sanders, Pete Buttigieg, Elizabeth Warren and Joe Biden — the initial inconsistencies tainted the eventual outcome and created an opening for the Trump camp to cast doubts on the credibility of the process.
“We know there’s delays but we know one thing: we are punching above our weight,” Klobuchar said from a Marriott hotel in Des Moines. “Let’s stay up, let’s stay happy, and let’s head to New Hampshire.”The state party finally addressed the problem at about 10.30pm in Iowa, issuing a statement as supporters of the various candidates gathered. “This is simply a reporting issue, the app did not go down and this is not a hack or an intrusion.
Sanders’s campaign released internal polling data that declared him a winner, and Biden’s campaign manager declared it a “great night”, with his candidate over-performing in key districts.