Bernie Sanders Campaign Calls for Recalculation of Iowa Caucus Results

(Bloomberg) -- The campaigns of Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg requested a partial retabulation of Iowa caucus results, the Iowa Democratic Party announced Monday.

Buttigieg collected the most delegates in Iowa, earning 14 delegates to Sanders’ 12.

The Sanders campaign said it filed the recanvass request because it found “widespread issues and miscalculations.” If successful, the challenge could result in a delegate moving from Buttigieg to Sanders, giving them 13 delegates apiece.

“Our volunteers and supporters worked too hard, and too many people participated for the first time to have the results depend on calculations that even the party admits are incorrect,” Sanders adviser Jeff Weaver said.

The Buttigieg campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The reporting of the results of the Feb. 3 caucuses was marred from the beginning by problems with a smartphone app that didn’t work and a backup telephone hotline that was jammed by calls from supporters of President Donald Trump.

After a review of 93 precincts out of more than 1,700 on Sunday, the state party corrected the results of 54 precincts where numbers were entered incorrectly. But in as many as 37 precincts, incorrect numbers were submitted on the tabulation sheets signed by precinct officials. Iowa Democratic Party Chairman Troy Price said those documents cannot be amended under state law, even if they’re wrong.

The Sanders campaign is requesting a recanvass of 28 precincts and three satellite caucuses out of 1,765 total reporting. The Buttigieg campaign has requested a recanvass of 66 precincts.

The Iowa Democratic Party said its Recount/Recanvass Committee will review the requests and determine within 48 hours whether they meet the required standard for review.

(Disclaimer: Michael Bloomberg is also seeking the Democratic presidential nomination. He is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.)

--With assistance from Emma Kinery and Tyler Pager.

To contact the reporter on this story: Gregory Korte in Manchester, New Hampshire at gkorte@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Wendy Benjaminson at wbenjaminson@bloomberg.net, Max Berley, Michael Shepard

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