Sanders requests partial recanvass of Iowa caucus results

Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (I-Vt.) presidential campaign is requesting a partial recanvass of Iowa caucus results, citing “mathematical errors and inconsistencies” in the tabulations for more than two dozen precincts. 

In a letter to Iowa Democratic Party Chairman Troy Price, Sanders said that discrepancies in the vote tally at 25 precincts and three satellite caucus sites led to at least 3.2312 too many state delegate equivalents being awarded to former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg. Sanders said he received at least 2.3942 too few state delegate equivalents.

“These errors and inconsistencies are ripe for review because their correction would change the national delegate allocation by moving, at a minimum, one PLEO delegate from Mayor Buttigieg to my campaign,” Sanders wrote in the letter, using an acronym for party leaders and state and local elected officials. 

The letter came a day after the Iowa Democratic Party announced that Buttigieg led the field of Democratic presidential contenders in the delegate race. He was awarded 14 delegates, while Sanders received 12. 

But questions about the results of the first-in-the-nation caucuses remain after technical difficulties and reporting errors delayed tallies of the vote and stirred concerns about the accuracy of the count. 

News outlets, including The Associated Press, which typically calls elections results, have declined to name a winner in the caucuses, noting that discrepancies in the reported results have muddled the final outcome.

Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez has already called for a partial recanvass of the results in Iowa, a process that would further extend the reporting delay in the state.