The Iowa vote for the next Democratic presidential primary candidacy is under way, and although the votes have been cast and are ready to be announced, hours have lapsed. The delay has been attributed to “technical issues” according to ABC News.
Yet, many have warned that even a legitimate delay will be a cause for concern among voters and a point of attack from opponents of the Democrats.
One such warning came from journalist Rick Klein, who said: “I think the more significant piece of information is the acknowledgment that there are significant problems here.
“We’ve been told now for about two hours that the numbers are about to roll in.
“Something is seriously off about this vote count.
“I know a lot of people want to throw around a lot of irresponsible terms such as rigged, hacking – we don’t know any of that at this stage.
“What we can say confidently is that there are massive technical issues delaying the vote count right here in Iowa.
“It is 100% better to be right rather than to be fast.
“But, this is going to be a massive black mark on this event if we significantly delay because of technical issues given the scepticism out there around the electoral process, given the focus on Iowa, given the all of the changes that were put in, the reforms that were put in.
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“People are still caucusing, we’re working to report results soon.”
For the first time, the state Democratic party will report three sets of results: “the first expression of preference” from caucusgoers for a candidate; vote totals from the “final alignment” after backers of lower-ranking contenders make their second choice; and the total number of state delegate equivalents won by candidates.
Communications director Mandy McClure said: “The integrity of the results is paramount.
“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.”
Joe Galasso, a volunteer in charge of new registrations for Waukee precinct 2, said: “The app is the issue and the hotline is smoked.”
He said they have not yet been able to reporter their results even though the process had been wrapped up more than an hour ago.