Tom Perez demands recanvass in Iowa as chaos ensues
US Democratic National Committee Chair Tom Perez has demanded a review of the results of the Iowa caucuses.
Perez called for a recanvass of all results in there Thursday as the state's Democratic Party continues to struggle to verify the data from Monday night's caucuses.
Early results from Iowa's Democratic Party caucuses showed that former mayor of South Bend, Pete Buttigieg, had taken the lead among other rival candidates.
But, Perez said on Twitter, "In light of the problems that have emerged in the implementation of the delegate selection plan and in order to assure public confidence in the results, I am calling on the Iowa Democratic Party to immediately begin a recanvass."
"A recanvass is a review of the worksheets from each caucus site to ensure accuracy. The (Iowa Democratic Party) will continue to report results," he wrote after his initial tweet.
The statement comes as the first contest to decide the party’s presidential nominee was marred by technical problems.
The final results are yet to be released and so far, with returns in from 97 percent of the precincts, Buttigieg is leading by a razor-thin 26.2 percent, while Senator Bernie Sanders is trailing behind closely with 26.1 percent.
The Associated Press also said Thursday that it was not able to declare a winner in Iowa's Democratic caucuses over irregularities and inconsistencies that have marred the results.
Meanwhile, Iowa Democratic Party Chair Troy Price released a statement responding to Perez, saying the party was ready to carry out a recanvass "should any presidential campaign" request one.
"Should any presidential campaign in compliance with the Iowa Delegate Selection Plan request a recanvass, the IDP (Iowa Democratic Party) is prepared," he said. "In such a circumstance, the IDP will audit the paper records of report, as provided by the precinct chairs and signed by representatives of presidential campaigns. This is the official record of the Iowa Democratic caucus, and we are committed to ensuring the results accurately reflect the preference of Iowans."
Also on Thursday, Sanders criticized the IDP handling of the caucus results, saying at a New Hampshire town hall that the party "screwed up."
“It is really sad that the Democratic Party of Iowa screwed up the counting process so severely," Sanders told CNN, noting that the scenario "distressed" him.
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