2020 race: D-Day as Democrats gather in Iowa to return first caucus verdict
The first caucus of the primary season has the potential to make or break presidential campaigns. It’s deteriorated into a debacle.
Problems with a mobile app appeared to force a delay in reporting the results of the Iowa caucuses Monday, as the campaigns, voters and the media pressed party officials for an explanation and got few answers. An Iowa Democratic Party official pointed to “quality control” as the source of the delays – but noted that about a quarter of the state’s nearly 1,700 precincts have reported their data already. The party also said the delay was not caused by a “hack or an intrusion.” But other officials blamed technology. Des Moines County Democratic Chair Tom Courtney said he heard that in precincts across his county, including his own, a mobile app created for caucus organisers to report results to the party was “a mess.” Precinct leaders were instead calling in their results to the Democratic Party headquarters, and “they weren’t answering the phones in Des Moines” because, Courtney speculated, they were mobbed with calls.
The apps were barely working, forcing party aides to record results from the precincts via phone and enter them manually into a database, according to a person involved in processing the data who requested anonymity to discuss the party’s internal process.
The slowdown came as the party attempted to report more data about the caucus than in years past — promising to release both a headcount of each candidates’ supporters and the delegate winners from each site.
“The integrity of the results is paramount,” Iowa Democratic Party spokeswoman Mandy McClure said in a statement. “We have experienced a delay in the results due to quality checks and the fact that the IDP is reporting out three data sets for the first time. What we know right now is that around 25% of precincts have reported, and early data indicates turnout is on pace for 2016.”
Fodder for critics
The problems were an embarrassment for a state party that has long sought to protect its prized status as the first contest in the primary race. The delay was certain to become fodder for caucus critics who call the process antiquated and exclusionary.
President Donald Trump’s campaign quickly seized on the issue to sow doubt about the validity of the results.
Quality control = rigged? 🤔 https://t.co/rJY3gdRccE
— Brad Parscale - Text TRUMP to 88022 (@parscale) February 4, 2020
Democrat party meltdown.
— Brad Parscale - Text TRUMP to 88022 (@parscale) February 4, 2020
They can’t even run a caucus and they want to run the government. 😳
No thank you.
“Quality control (equals) rigged?” Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale tweeted Monday evening, adding a emoji with furrowed brows.
Linn County Auditor Joel Miller, who ran a precinct in the Cedar Rapids suburb of Robins, said some app users may not have gotten the instructions on how to log into the system.
“If people didn’t know where to look for the PIN numbers or the precinct numbers, that could slow them down,” said Miller, who said he had no problem using the system to report his precinct’s figures and it worked fine. Helen Grunewald, a precinct caucus chairwoman in Benton County, said she had been on hold with the party trying to report her results for a significant amount of time.
Earlier in the night, however, Iowa Democratic Party Chairman Troy Price said while there were some reports from precinct officials that they couldn’t log into the mobile app, a team of trouble-shooters was working to address any technical issues.
“We’ve had an app before but we’ve also had a hotline before, and folks have had the option to do that, and so we expect that we’ll be able to report the results in a timely manner this evening,” he said.
The Caucus Chair at my site showed me her voting app, saying it wasn’t showing all the data that had been entered when you looked back but did have the correct end result. She said there was paper record as well as a back up 🤷ðŸ¼â€â™€ï¸ #IowaCaucuses
— Annelise Nielsen (@annelisenews) February 4, 2020
Make or break campaign
For the candidates, the result of the Iowa caucus — which were initially due about 3pm on Tuesday (AEDT) — the first of the primary season has the potential to make or break their presidential campaigns.
As last minute polls showed a tight race between the four leaders in the 12-person race, Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg and Elizabeth Warren, each was working back-to-back functions in a state where voters are famously slow to decide their vote.
Bernie Sanders has a small army at this Iowa caucus precinct compared to the rest. pic.twitter.com/fBOHXOEep9
— cameron stewart (@camstewarttheoz) February 4, 2020
At a college in the town of Indianola a crowd of about 1000 people turned up to see Senator Warren when organisers were expecting only 350, forcing her to give two speeches, to those inside and those who couldn’t get in.
Watching on was Sam Early, wife Stephanie and their children, Louise, 3, and Isaac, 1.
“We were pretty open between all the candidates for awhile but then we decided that Warren was the one,” said Stephanie, a 32-year-old insurance worker.
“I really like strong female role models, and she likes to fix things.”
Sam, 35, added: “I think her personality and temperament is something that the country needs right now. I think she can beat Trump, in fact I think most of the Democrat candidates can.”
Nearby, navy veteran Ron Dyer said he had been to see all the major candidates speak, but he had settled on Mr Biden. “I think he has the experience and background to beat Donald Trump and I think he’ll bring a lot of blue-collar voters back into the fold that we lost in the last election.”
As he spoke Senator Warren suddenly appeared and jumped onto a wooden crate to address the crowd. “How about we provide universal childcare for every one of our babies? How about we build more housing, how about we build an America, we build a democracy that doesn’t just work for the rich and powerful but which works for the rest of us?” she said to cheers.
Senator Warren needs a good showing in Iowa, with her campaign stalling in recent months after a strong rise over the US summer. The final polls put her in fourth pace with 15.2 per cent support.
A few hours later, at Lincoln High School in the state capital of Des Moines, former South Bend, Indiana, mayor Pete Buttigieg took the stage in front of more than 1000 screaming supporters. “Are we ready to say goodbye to the cruelty and the division?” he asked as the crowd chanted “Yes”.
“Are we ready to say goodbye to the tweets?” he asked. “Yes,” they replied. “Are we ready for democracy that is worthy of the name?” he asked.
In the crowd, lawyer Patrick Giordano and his 22-year-old daughter, Angelina, said they had decided to vote for the 38-year-old Rhodes scholar, military veteran and gay candidate.
Mr Giordano said he saw Mr Buttigieg’s youth as a strength, not a weakness, as some of the older candidates such as Mr Biden have alleged. “The Democrats have always been successful when we have had the younger, fresher candidates like Clinton, Obama and even going back to Kennedy. That is what we are used to, we need to look to the future,” he said.
Polls show Mr Buttigieg is in third place with 16.3 per cent support behind Senator Sanders and Mr Biden.
Outside, a handful of Trump voters held a counter-rally, bringing a tractor branded with Trump signs and flags. “I’m definitely voting for Trump,” said 22-year-old college student Gracen Harden. “I think he’s doing a lot for the economy, wages are going up, he has actually kept his promises so I think he has the back of the American people.”
Across town Mr Biden had a far more low-key rally, more like a folksy fireside chat, leaving many in the crowd underwhelmed by the lack of energy of the 77-year-old former vice-president. “It just stuns me the things he says and does,” Mr Biden said of Mr Trump. Mr Biden has sold himself as the candidate most likely to defeat the incumbent President.
“You can ruin Donald Trump’s night,” Mr Biden said, by voting for him because he said Mr Trump feared him the most.
Despite Mr Biden’s low-energy performance, his supporters still backed him. “I am here because I believe vice-president Biden is the one who can restore the soul of America and take back the White House,” said Martha Devaney, a healthcare worker. “I was a Bernie Sanders delegate in 2016 but after a lot of soul-searching my decision is that we have to win the White House and Joe Biden is the best person who can do that.”
Even so, Senator Sanders, 78, is the favourite to win the Iowa caucus, with polls showing him leading with 24.7 per cent from Mr Biden at 21 per cent.
But the Iowa polls are nothing if not unpredictable. By late Tuesday (AEDT) the Democrat race for president should become a lot clearer.
Cameron Stewart is also US contributor for Sky News Australia
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