DNC Chair Calls for Review of Democratic Iowa Caucus Voting Results to Ensure Accuracy

WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th February, 2020) Democratic National Convention Chairman Tom Perez in a statement on Thursday urged the Iowa Democratic Party to initiate a review of the Iowa Caucus votes to ensure accuracy following delays in reporting the voting results and issues with its voting system.

The initial results were expected to be in on Monday night by 11:00 p.m. (4:00 a.m. GMT on Tuesday) but were delayed due to what the Iowa Democratic Party said were irregularities.

"In light of the problems that have emerged in the implementation of the delegate selection plan and in order to assure public confidence in the results, I am calling on the Iowa Democratic Party to immediately begin a recanvass," Perez said via Twitter.

A recanvass is a review of the worksheets from each caucus site in order to ensure accuracy, Perez said. He added that the Iowa Democratic Party would continue to report results.

As of Thursday afternoon, US Senator Bernie Sanders and South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg are neck-to-neck in the race with 97 percent of the precincts reporting.

Iowa Democratic Party spokesperson Mandy McClure said the delay was due to "quality checks," adding that they found inconsistencies in the reporting of three sets of results. McClure also clarified that the delay was not due to any hack or intrusion.

Sanders supporters have raised concerns that the DNC seeks to undermine the chances of their candidate in a repeat of questionable practices during the 2016 election. Sanders supporters have pointed out that a computer tabulating application - produced by the firm Shadow Inc. to which Buttigieg contributed money - had allegedly malfunctioned and data reported by some counties themselves does not match the official count.