'We don't have time to correct every error': Iowa Democrats vote 26-14 to certify caucus results

The Iowa Democratic Party certified caucus results on Saturday after what new state chair Mark Smith called an "honest and spirited debate" about addressing lingering questions of accuracy.

The certified results of the Feb. 3 contest will send 14 national delegates to support Pete Buttigieg at the Democratic Party's formal presidential nominating convention this summer. Bernie Sanders will get 12 delegates, followed by Elizabeth Warren with 8 delegates, Joe Biden with 6 and Amy Klobuchar with 1.

But the certification wasn't unanimous. Several members of the Iowa Democratic Party's state central committee, which acts as a governing board, argued that too many questions remain about the accuracy of the results.

The Associated Press has declined to call a winner in the race, citing "remaining concerns about whether the results as reported by the party are fully accurate." The AP is a widely relied upon source, including by the Des Moines Register, of neutral election observations and projections. 

"If a neutral observer of elections like that can't declare a winner, I don't think we should declare a winner until we get these results fixed," committee member Nick Kruse said before the vote. If it weren't for deadlines and the effect on future steps in the caucus process, Kruse said he would call for a complete review of results and underlying tabulations.

The committee ultimately voted 26-14 to certify the results on Saturday, the last day to do so, according to the party's rules. To get there, the committee first voted down a proposed amendment to fix issues with precincts that allocated more delegates than they had to give and a problem with a Des Moines County precinct's misreported results. The amendment was defeated by a committee vote, 26-15.

"We don't have time to correct every error," said committee member Bill Brauch, who offered the amendment, citing the party's county conventions in three weeks. "But to me, over-allocating delegates is such a critical error, and raises such a question of unfairness, that we need to take action to correct it."

Over-allocation could happen because of the way fractional precinct results are rounded. Melissa Peterson, the party's rules chair, said in the Saturday meeting that over-allocation was allowed under the committee-approved delegate selection plan, as were scenarios of precincts under-allocating delegates.

The party also only had rules in place to address issues brought up by campaigns, not third-party observers, such as the media. Only the campaigns for Sanders and Buttigieg, who were and are neck-and-neck in state delegate equivalents, asked for a recanvass and recount of certain precincts that would bolster their chances of victory.

Peterson urged the committee to certify the results.

"Help us move forward, so we can get to the real important activity of this committee, which is to elect Democrats in November of 2020," Peterson said. 

During the roll call vote, committee member Jean Hessburg stood up to register her "yes" to certifying results, adding, "And I support the Democratic Party and the Iowa caucuses."

She criticized the amendment as "revisionist" to rules that were approved by the committee months before the caucuses. Furthermore, she said, the requested changes wouldn't affect the outcome.

"Nothing we're talking about here would change the end results. Nothing," she said after the vote. "So what we're talking about is dancing on the head of a pin."

The certification happened as Democrats in South Carolina vote in the fourth-in-the-nation primary, and days before "Super Tuesday," a multi-state primary election day where a third of national delegates will be up for grabs.

It capped weeks of uncertainty, during which Sanders celebrated winning the most caucusgoers, but electoral college-like apportionment gave Buttigieg an edge in state delegate equivalents. Each campaign requested a recanvass of some precincts, where the party confirmed precinct reports matched what the state party recorded, and then recounts, where presidential preference cards were used to recreate caucus night results.

And it may not fully wrap up the process. According to POLITICO, the Sanders campaign filed a challenge with the Democratic National Committee alleging that the Iowa Democratic Party violated its rules in how it conducted the recanvass and recount. The state party required evidence that the requested reviews would potentially shift national delegate allocation, a requirement Sanders campaign officials argued that Buttigieg didn't meet when submitting his request.

Iowa Democratic Party officials announced an inaccurate vote total at the meeting Saturday and corrected it afterward. This story has been updated to reflect that change.

Nick Coltrain is a politics and data reporter for the Register. Reach him at ncoltrain@registermedia.com or at 515-284-8361.

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