The chair of the Democratic National Committee is calling for a “recanvass” of all caucus results in Iowa as the state’s Democratic Party continues to struggle to verify the data from Monday night’s caucuses.
The move is a significant step and raises further questions about how long the results of the key Iowa caucuses will remain outstanding.
In a recanvass, all the numbers that were released by the state party would be checked against the results that were recorded at caucus sites.
Tom Perez, chair of the DNC, has been vocally frustrated with the caucus debacle, taking to Twitter on Tuesday.
Former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders were locked in a close battle for first in Iowa on Thursday with 97% of precinct reporting. Buttigieg held a .1% lead over Sanders, with former Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, former Vice President Joe Biden and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar trailing behind.
The Iowa Democratic Party did not have advance warning that DNC Chairman Tom Perez was planning to call for a recanvass, according to two people familiar with the matter.
Left unsaid in Perez’ tweet is that about a dozen DNC officials have been on the ground in Iowa since the caucuses, overseeing the process of verifying and chasing down data from precincts across the state.
But the tweet is indicative of the tensions between the Iowa Democratic Party and the DNC that CNN reported yesterday.
Some political analysts have speculated that the chaos after the Monday night caucuses may cost the state its first-in-the-nation status. That decision is ultimately made by top party leaders.
People working for the IDP have been working day and night, according to chairman Troy Price, to get the results out to the public. IDP leaders cited an issue with the app used to report results on Monday night.
This article contains reporting from WOI.
