DES MOINES, Iowa — After weeks of recounting and certifying and recounting again, Iowans will finally have the the recount results from the 2020 Iowa Democratic caucuses, and the national delegate total remains unchanged: Pete Buttigieg is in first in Iowa, following closely by Sen. Bernie Sanders.
"The IDP has until Saturday, February 29, to report and certify the results of the 2020 Iowa Caucuses," said a spokesperson for the Iowa Democratic Party.
The recount began at 12 p.m. on Tuesday. All campaigns were invited to send up to 2 representatives. Present were members of the Recanvass/Recount Committee, Recount Administrators, staff appointed by the Administrators to assist, IDP legal counsel, and representatives of the Buttigieg and Sanders campaigns. The recount occurred over two days.
During this meeting, the Administrators considered and reviewed 23 precincts, including two satellite caucuses. You can review the full list here.
The Democratic caucuses went off the rails on February 2 after an app that was supposed to be used by precinct leaders to submit results failed and delayed the results. Only partial results were reported nearly 24 hours later, and even then, the numbers were riddled with errors.
Media outlets, including Local 5, have not declared a winner in the race because of the close margin. The Associated Press made an unprecedented announcement following the caucus chaos that the race was too close to call.
Both Sen. Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg requested partial recanvasses from the IDP.
As reporters dug more into the caucus issues after the votes had been tallied, we found out from county party leaders that issues with the app had been brought to the party's attention before caucus night.
“We had a lot to celebrate about and most people thought it was a really good caucus process, the only time it really got bungled was in the reporting last night. Big, big issue.” said Sean Bagniewski, chair of the Polk County Democrats.
RELATED: Iowa Democratic Party begins recount
Several days after the caucus debacle, chairman Troy Price stepped down from his position at the Iowa Democratic Party. A few days later in an emergency meeting, members of the State Central Committee appointed Rep. Mark Smith as the interim chair.
On Saturday at 10 a.m., the Iowa Democratic Party State Central Committee will hold a meeting to certify the results of the 2020 Iowa Caucuses.
