Bernie Sanders Campaign Declares Victory in Iowa and Releases Discrepancies
DES MOINES, Iowa – Sen. Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign on Thursday celebrated winning the popular vote in the first and second round of the Iowa caucus and released publicly discrepancies in the State Delegate Equivalent data it submitted to the Iowa Democratic Party.
“Tonight's release of data by the Iowa Democratic Party confirms Sen. Bernie Sanders won the Iowa caucus,” Sanders’ Senior Advisor Jeff Weaver said. “We also feel confident that the discrepancies we’re providing tonight, in addition to those widely identified in the national media, mean that the SDE count will never be known with any kind of certainty. Given the rules changes we fought for that required the release of the popular vote count, SDEs are now an antiquated and meaningless metric for deciding the winner of the Iowa caucus.”
Below is the list of discrepancies in the State Delegate Equivalent calculations that were submitted to but not yet considered by the party.
14 instances for a total of 2.50383 SDE
Storm Lake 1 - Sanders down 1 delegate (.0785 SDE)
In this 7-delegate precinct, according to IDP data, Buttigieg’s 1.974358974 was correctly rounded up to 2. However, Warren’s 1.256410256, which was tied with Yang, was incorrectly rounded up to 2 despite Sanders’ 2.333333333 being closer to 3. The correct allocation should be Sanders 3 delegates, Buttigieg 2, and Warren and Yang with 1.
Warren County Norwalk Precinct 1 - Sanders down 1 delegate, Buttigieg over 1 delegate (0.23333)
In this precinct, Buttigieg received an extra 3rd delegate after already rounding up to 2. Sanders, at third place with 1.346938776, should have received the extra delegate, bringing him to 2 alongside Biden and Buttigeig. The correct allocation should be Buttigieg, Biden and Sanders 2 and Warren and Klobuchar with 1.
Des Moines 7 - Sanders down 1 delegate, Buttigieg over 1 delegate (0.2798 SDE)
In this 9-delegate precinct, Sanders was at 4.826815642, Warren was at 2.463687151 and Buttigieg was at 2.664804469 before rounding. Sanders’ 4.8 was closer to 5 than Buttigeig’s 2.7 was to 3. Therefore, Sanders should have 5 delegates while Buttigieg has 2.
Woodbury 6/Sioux City 6 - Sanders down 1 delegate (0.2125 SDE)
The 9 delegates in this precinct are not distributed properly. Before rounding, there is Sanders at 2.668965517, Warren at 2.110344828, Buttigieg at 1.675862069, Biden at 1.613793103, Klobuchar at 1.551724138. Two delegates must be lost after rounding everyone up. With 2.67, Sanders is closer to 3 than Biden is to 2 at 1.61 and Klobuchar is to 2 at 1.55. Sanders should have 3 delegates instead of 2, with Warren 2, Buttigieg 2, Biden 1, and Klobuchar 1.
Ocheyedan - Sanders down 1 delegate (.1 SDE)
Each of the 3 candidates who reached viability in this 3-delegate precinct should have received a delegate. Before rounding, Sanders and Klobuchar were both at 0.6, which rounds to 1. However, Sanders was not awarded his only delegate, which instead went to Buttigieg as his second delegate. This should be reversed to make it Sanders 1, Klobuchar 1, and Buttigieg 1.
Bellair/Lincoln - Sanders down 1 delegate (.08 SDE)
Each of the 4 candidates who reached viability in this 4-delegate precinct should have received a delegate. Before rounding, Sanders and Klobuchar were both at 0.6153846154, which rounds to 1. However, Sanders was not awarded his only delegate, which instead went to Biden as Biden’s second delegate. This should be reversed to make it Sanders 1, Klobuchar 1, Biden 1, and Buttigieg 1.
Sioux 6 Orange City 1 - Sanders down 1 delegate (.0875 SDE)
The 10 delegates were misassigned following a rounding interpretation error. Second alignment had Klobuchar 15, Buttigieg 20, Sanders 23 and Warren 26. Before rounding, it was Klobuchar 1.61290, Buttigieg 2.15053, Sanders 2.47312 and Warren 2.79570. Warren was awarded a 4th delegate after rounding up to 3. Instead, that final delegate should have gone to Sanders, who was closer to 3 than Warren was to 4. The final count should be Warren 3, Sanders 3, Buttigieg 2 and Klobuchar 2.
Guthrie Gold - Sanders down 1 delegate (.0857 SDE)
Before rounding, Biden, Klobuchar and Buttigieg were all at 2.93548 with Sanders at 2.48387 and Warren at 2.25806. Buttigieg was already rounded up to 3 when awarded a 4th delegate. Given IDP rules, that final delegate should have been awarded to Sanders after rounding up his 2.48 to 3 alongside Biden, Klobuchar and Buttigieg. Warren would still have 2.
Independence 2 - Sanders down 1 delegate (.1368 SDE)
Only 5 of the 6 delegates were awarded. After rounding, Biden recieved 3 delegates while Sanders and Klobuchar only received 1 each. Sanders’ 1.2 is higher than Klobuchar’s 1.09, so the last delegate should go to Sanders, making the final count Biden 3, Sanders 2, Klobuchar 1.
Adair 04 SE - Sanders down 1 delegate (.0784 SDE)
The following has been corroborated with Adair County Chair Thadeus Hawley. All 10 delegates were awarded, but the distribution is incorrect. According to IDP data, the second alignment has Warren 9, Biden 7 and Sanders, Klobuchar and Buttigieg each with 6. However, Sanders receives only 1 delegate when the other two candidates at the same level received 2. Sanders, Klobuchar and Buttigieg’s 1.7647 is closer to 2 than Warren’s 2.6471 is to 3. Given this, each candidate should be awarded 2 delegates, including Sanders.
Muscatine 9 - Sanders down 1 delegate (.1667 SDE)
In this precinct, only 8 of the 9 delegates were awarded. According to IDP data, the second alignment has Sanders 44, Buttigieg 42 and Biden 26. This calculates to 3.5357 for Sanders, 3.3750 for Buttigieg and 2.0893 for Biden, yet Sanders and Buttigeg were both awarded 3 delegates and Biden awarded 2, with the 9th delegate never awarded. According to rounding rules, Sanders should be awarded the 9th delegate for a total of 4. Buttigieg would remain at 3 and Biden at 2.
Des Moines 14 - Sanders down 1 county delegate (.2798 SDE)
In Des Moines 14, per IDP data, the second alignment left Buttigieg with 52, Sanders with 50, Warren with 31 and Biden with 25. This should have resulted in 2 delegates for Buttigieg and Sanders and 1 delegate for Warren and Biden. However, according to the information listed by the IDP, Warren was awarded 2 delegates while Sanders was awarded 1, despite having more caucusgoers. We ask for this to be reversed for a final count of Buttigieg 2, Sanders 2, Warren 1 and Biden 1.
North Liberty 6 - Sanders down 1 delegate (.405 SDE)
In North Liberty 6, the IDP lists second round results as Sanders 107 to Warren 105. The raw delegate total should have been 2.97 to 2.92 per the IDP data. However, the caucus chair decided to call this lead a tie and hold a coin flip, which landed in Warren's favor. In IDP rules, a tie is only when candidates have the same exact number. Per those rules, this result was not a tie and the delegate should have been awarded to Sanders, who had a larger number. Final count should be Buttigieg 4, Sanders 4 and Warren 3.
Des Moines 80 - Sanders down 1 delegate, Buttigieg over 1 delegate (.2798 SDE)
Only 9 of the 10 delegates in this precinct have been awarded with 2 for Biden, 4 for Buttigieg and 4 for Sanders. Before rounding, it is Biden 2.0, Buttigieg 2.75 and Sanders 4.2, which would round to 5 in a 10-delegate precinct. The chair decided there was a tie for the 10th delegate and called for a coin flip, that went for Buttigieg. There was not a tie and that delegate should be awarded to Sanders to make the final count Sanders 5, Buttigeig 3 and Biden 2 for a total of 10 delegates.
