Pete Buttigieg takes Iowa Caucus in near-tie with Bernie Sanders, candidates prepare for New Hampshire

After a three-day wait, the results from the Iowa Caucus on Feb. 3 showed that Pete Buttigieg was leading, having 26.2% of the votes and 13 state delegates. 

The runner-ups were Bernie Sanders with 26.1% and 12 delegates, as well as Elizabeth Warren with 18% and eight delegates.

Sanders and Buttigieg were neck and neck throughout the gradually delivered results. When the results were at 97% on Thursday, the Democratic National Committee had requested for a recanvass of the caucus votes due to confusion with the programming. 

The Associated Press also deemed it too close to call, since Buttigieg is leading against Sanders by only 0.1% — so the official winner of the caucus will not be announced until the recount is done. The deadline to confirm the true winner of the caucus is at 1 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 10.

There was an extensive delay in the results of this year’s caucus compared to previous years when the results were out the night that the caucus took place. 

These issues came about due to the use of a new app for logging the votes, rather than the previous tactic of calling them in after each round to keep track of the votes. The app crashed and the Iowa Democratic Party announced it was due to “coding issues.” The app was working properly with recording the data, but struggled to report it.

Junior Mac Muehlberger stated that, in most cases, the candidate that wins the Iowa Caucus is likely to win the nomination for the party.

“No matter how well someone is doing on the other side of the country, if somebody wins the Iowa Caucus, it changes peoples’ minds and think ‘oh, they’re the candidate I need to get behind,’” Muehlberger said.

The caucus is important because it’s used to boost the candidates’ campaigns for the next primary vote by gaining them supporters and figuring out how much they need to be spending on their campaigns, according to Muehlberger.

“These caucuses play a really big deal, and I don’t think it is fair to keep the people waiting. I don’t think it’s fair to keep the candidates waiting,” Muehlberger said.

With the next primary on Feb. 11 — this coming Tuesday — in New Hampshire, the delay of the results will mean a rushed campaign to sway voters. Most candidates are in New Hampshire now to secure as much of the vote before the primary as possible. The New Hampshire Democratic debate will take place tonight in Manchester, leading into the primary week.

Iowa Caucus Results (as of Feb. 7)

Pete Buttigieg: 26.2% (13 delegates)

Bernie Sanders: 26.1% (12 delegates)

Elizabeth Warren: 18% (8 delegates)

Joe Biden: 15.8% (6 delegates)

Amy Klobuchar: 12.3% (1 delegate)

Andrew Yang: 1%

Tom Seyer: 0.3%

Uncommitted: 0.2%