Iowa Dems fix errors in caucus results, say Clinton still winner

The Iowa Democratic Party has discovered errors in the results from five precincts, but the outcome of the Iowa caucuses remains the same, officials said Sunday.

Hillary Clinton won with 700.47 state delegate equivalents, or 49.84 percent.

Bernie Sanders finished in second place with 696.92 state delegate equivalents or 49.59 percent.

That's a difference of a quarter of a percentage point.

There have been widespread questions in Iowa and nationally about the accuracy of the counts reported on caucus night, which saw the second-highest number of participants and the closest result in Democrats' caucus history.

Even with the updated numbers, it remains unclear which candidate won the popular vote. Party officials, following tradition, declined to release the raw vote numbers.

Uproar could lead to revamping Democratic caucuses

Party Chairwoman Andy McGuire told The Des Moines Register the day after last week's caucuses that no review would be conducted, and that Clinton’s narrow victory over Sanders was final. McGuire said representatives from each presidential campaign had been present caucus night in the tabulation room and had already pointed out any problems with the numbers reported by volunteers in the 1,681 Democratic precincts. But as caucusgoers spotted errors last week, party officials worked with the campaigns to update the tally.

The uproar over the errors — as well as reports of disorganization in some precincts — has led to fresh calls for the party to mirror the simple, secret-ballot method that Iowa Republicans use and update the process in other ways.

For more than 40 years, the Democratic way of caucusing has voters physically divide into groups for their preferred candidate and realign if their candidate fails to meet a viability threshold, often 15 percent. The winner of the caucuses is determined by state delegate equivalents — based on past voter turnout, a math formula, rounding and coin tosses.

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Iowa Democrats last week had reported several cases of discrepancies in the results to the Register.

On Sunday, McGuire said party officials reviewed 14 precincts.

In each instance, they reached out to "precinct and county chairs on the ground for a full accounting of the results," she said. Nine of the 14 precincts were confirmed to be correct as reported on caucus night, while five instances of reporting errors were found.

The corrections gave Sanders a gain of 0.1053 state delegate equivalents. Clinton lost 0.122. And Martin O’Malley, who finished in a very distant third, gained 0.0167. The error corrections changed only five county convention delegates out of more than 11,000 elected on caucus night, McGuire said.

Here are the five precincts where results changed, according to McGuire:

Marion County, Knoxville 3 precinct:

Reported As: 5 county convention delegates for Clinton, 4 county convention delegates for Sanders

Confirmed As: 4 county convention delegates for Clinton, 5 county convention delegates for Sanders

Net Change: Sanders gains 0.13 state delegate equivalents; Clinton loses 0.13

Woodbury County 43, Oto precinct:

Reported As: 1 county convention delegate for Clinton

Confirmed As: 1 county convention delegate for Sanders

Net Change: Sanders gains 0.15 state delegate equivalents, Clinton loses 0.15

Osceola County, Ashton precinct:

Reported As: 3 county convention delegates for O’Malley, 4 county convention delegates for Sanders

Confirmed As: 4 county convention delegates for O’Malley, 3 county convention delegates for Sanders

Net Change: O’Malley gains 0.0167 state delegate equivalents, Sanders loses 0.0167

Story County, Sherman Township precinct:

Reported As: 1 county convention delegate for Sanders

Confirmed As: 1 county convention delegate for Clinton

Net Change: Clinton gains 0.23 state delegate equivalents, Sanders loses 0.23

Poweshiek County, 1st Ward (Grinnell):

Reported As: 18 county convention delegates for Sanders, 8 county convention delegates for Clinton

Confirmed As: 19 county convention delegates for Sanders, 7 county convention delegates for Clinton

Net Change: Sanders gains 0.072 state delegate equivalents, Clinton loses 0.072

Total net Change:

Sanders gains 0.1053 state delegate equivalents

Clinton loses 0.122

O’Malley gains 0.0167

Updated Results:

Clinton: 700.47 state delegate equivalents (--0.122) or 49.84%

Sanders: 696.92  (+0.1053) or 49.59%

O’Malley: 7.63 (+0.0167) or 0.54%

Uncommitted: 0.46 (unchanged) or 0.03%

In a news release, McGuire said: "We are proud of the more than 171,000 Iowa Democrats who came out to caucus on Monday night for our fantastic candidates and in support of the Democratic values of inclusion, opportunity, and equality. After every caucus, the party goes through a self-examination process to discuss what went right, and what can be improved upon.

"It's through this process that this year we launched our first ever tele-caucus and satellite caucuses, after we had listened to Iowans telling us we needed to take proactive steps to expand participation. This process will continue this year, and in conjunction with our state central committee, our partners and our allies, I will convene a committee to ensure we can improve on our caucus process while preserving what makes it special."