Let the race begin! The Iowa caucuses are over and the results are in, but it didn’t come without difficulties. Iowa has been historically significant in past elections seeing as it is the first election to be held during each presidential primary season. A win here can give an underdog momentum, squash other candidates, and even provide a solid prediction for who might face President Trump in just a few months.
Iowa does something a little different than most states. Instead of holding primaries, where voters cast their votes in secret, they hold caucuses. A caucus is an open discussion and conversation between voters. According to The Washington Post, the way a caucus normally works is everyone registered with the specific party is separated into precincts. This year there were a total of 1,678 precincts. Everyone who wishes to vote meets in obscure places like gymnasiums or cafeterias to discuss each candidate. At the end of the discussion, everyone stands in the corner or designated area of the candidate they wish to vote for. At this point, the votes are tallied for each candidate, and they win delegates based on the results. After each precinct is voted, they count all the delegates statewide. Whoever has the most delegates wins the election. Check out this video for more information on how caucuses work!
This year things didn’t go according to plan. The Democratic Party used a new app called Shadow. According to Business Insider, Shadow is owned by the “Democratic digital nonprofit group, Acronym.” Business Insider also reported that the Iowa Democratic Party stated they found “inconsistencies in the reporting of three sets of results” and that “quality checks” needed to be done. People were concerned that the app was compromised or hacked, but the Iowa Democratic Party credited the issue to be caused by the users of the app. This isn’t the first time an app has been used. Back in 2016, there was an app made by Microsoft that was used without any issues. Even a full day after the vote, only 62% of the votes were counted according to CNN.
On the night of Feb. 4, the finalized results shocked some of those involved. The final polling numbers show candidate Pete Buttigieg at 26.2% of delegates, while Bernie Sanders follows very close behind at 26.1% of delegates according to The New York Times.
Remember, if your personal favorite didn’t win the Iowa vote, don’t worry. While the results of Iowa sometimes align with the final Democrat and Republican presidential candidate, they aren’t set in stone. So, make sure you cast your vote come November!
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