Iowa Democratic party altered precinct's caucus results during chaotic night

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

Iowa Democratic party altered precinct's caucus results during chaotic night

Ben Jacobs in Manchester, New Hampshire
Friday 5 February 2016 20.07 GMT

In the Iowa Democratic party’s chaotic attempt to report caucus results on Monday night, the results in at least one precinct were unilaterally changed by the party as it attempted to deal with the culmination of a rushed and imperfect process overseeing the first-in-the-nation nominating contest.

In Grinnell Ward 1, the precinct where elite liberal arts college Grinnell College is located, 19 delegates were awarded to Bernie Sanders and seven were awarded to Hillary Clinton on caucus night. However, the Iowa Democratic party decided to shift one delegate from Sanders to Clinton on the night and did not notify precinct chair J Pablo Silva that they had done so. Silva only discovered that this happened the next day, when checking the precinct results in other parts of the county.

The shift of one delegate at a county convention level would not have significantly affected the ultimate outcome of the caucus, but rather, it raises questions aboutthe Iowa Democratic party’s management of caucus night.

The Iowa Democratic party had long been plagued with organizational issues around the caucus and failed to find hundreds of needed volunteers to oversee individual precinct caucuses just over a week before Monday. The result was a disorganized process that lent itself to chaos and conspiracy theories. Although Andy McGuire, the chair of the Iowa Democratic party, is a longtime Clinton supporter whose license plate once read HRC 2016, no one familiar with the issue has accused the error of being a partisan process. Instead, they have blamed simple mismanagement.

The party issued a statement early on Tuesday, detailing final delegate numbers that had Clinton winning the caucuses. However, the statement came shortly after party officials gave the impression to the Sanders campaign that no statement with results would be issued at all that night.

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Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/feb/05/iowa-democratic-party-altered-precinct-caucus-results-clinton-sanders

[metroins]

1. It really challenges the inefficiencies of a caucus

You'd think the people of Iowa would evolve to a more stable system by now.

Just because that's the way it's been done for 40 years doesn't mean it should continue on.

Look at how it screwed santorum 4 years ago.

[cali]

2. Andy McGuire is a piece of work.

[TwilightGardener]

3. What the fuck? How much of this happened in how many precincts?

I saw that video, BTW. What is the explanation for shifting a delegate in the middle of the night?

[arcane1]

8. It's all a case of "simple mismanagement" apparently.

Such an innocent-sounding term, with no sense of agency or direction at all. I'm sure focus groups would agree.

[FlatBaroque]

4. In any vote where he is against a Republican or Clinton, Bernie's victory margin

must exceed the ratfucking margin

[CentralMass]

6. Absolutely.

[Vinca]

5. What was their reason for monkeying with delegates?

It doesn't sound like these people have a clue what they're doing. The Iowa Democrats need to go to a simple paper ballot before the next primary. I assume Iowa Democrats are capable of counting paper ballots, but in case they aren't there would at least be a way to do a recount.

[CentralMass]

7. They needed to get a certainew outcome.

[questionseverything]

10. in nh it is illegal to examine the ballots

http://www.democraticunderground.com/12511150436

[Uncle Joe]

9. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, Eugene.