Iowa margin between Clinton, Sanders shifts as errors found
Iowa Democratic Party officials are reviewing results from the Iowa caucuses and making updates where discrepancies have been found.
Party Chairwoman Andy McGuire the day after Monday's caucuses said no review would be conducted and that Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s narrow victory over Bernie Sanders is final.
But as errors are being discovered, the final tally is being changed, party officials confirmed to The Des Moines Register Friday morning
"Both the Sanders and Clinton campaigns have flagged a very small number of concerns for us, and we are looking at them all on a case-by-case basis," Iowa Democratic Party spokesman Sam Lau told the Register.
The Register, too, has received numerous reports that the results announced in its precinct Monday night don't match what the Iowa Democratic Party has posted on its official results websites.
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Just one example: Grinnell precinct No. 1.
At least three caucusgoers there (including Dan McCue and Zack Stewart) and the Grinnell College newspaper reported that Sanders won 19 county delegates and Clinton 7, but party officials said the final tally was Sanders 18 and Clinton 8.
“19-7 is right,” Pablo Silva, a Grinnell College professor who was precinct secretary, told the Register Friday morning. “It is complicated, but the issue comes down to a problem with the math that can be complicated in large precincts. Short version: On Monday night, the IDP felt we had not done it right and they attempted to correct what they saw as errors. We’ve been in touch since then. They are acknowledging our results, but, as I write, will wait on the arrival of our paperwork.”
Lau confirmed those details.
The change in the county delegate count in Grinnell No. 1 represents a change of .072 state delegate equivalents — not even a tenth.
The final tally the state party announced Tuesday — before the latest changes were made — showed a difference of 3.77 state delegate equivalents:
Clinton: 700.59 state delegate equivalents
Sanders: 696.82 state delegate equivalents
Reports of discrepancies in other precincts are still being reviewed.
Clinton campaign officials are trying to shut down the questions, lashing out at Sanders backers for peddling conspiracy theories.
“Hillary Clinton won Iowa. End of story,” Matt Paul, Clinton's Iowa campaign director, wrote in a post on Medium.com published Friday morning.
Paul wrote that even if Sanders aides were to win all of their challenges , the marginal bump won't overcome Clinton’s win margin. He wrote:
Here’s the math.
Total Precincts in Contest: 11 (7 from Sanders and 4 from the Iowa Democratic Party)
Total State Delegates being Contested: 1.7947 (not enough to change outcome)If every contest were to go in the favor of Sanders:
HRC = -.775
Sanders = +.758
MOM = +.0166It may be inconvenient for the Sanders campaign that Hillary Clinton won the Iowa caucus, but it’s the truth.