'Quality Control' Issues Delay Reporting Of Results For Democrats In Iowa Caucuses
BETTENDORF, Iowa (CBS) -- President Donald Trump won easily on the Republican side in the Iowa caucuses on Monday, but as of the late evening hours, there was no clear winner on the Democratic side.
CBS News' Norah O'Donnell reported just before 10 p.m. Central time that the votes were being counted, but Iowa Democratic Party officials were not ready to report any results because they were sorting through "quality control."
Thus, CBS News could not project a winner as of 10 p.m.
"The integrity of the results is paramount. We have experienced a delay in the results due to quality checks and the fact that Iowa Democratic Party is reporting out three data sets for the first time," the party said in a statement.
The party for the first time committed to tabulate delegates for each candidate, the first choice of everyone who attended a caucus, and the second choice after realignment. Getting all three numbers correct slowed the process down dramatically.
CBS News Chief White House Correspondent Major Garrett said the circumstances were very unusual. In 2016, more than two thirds of the Iowa caucus data were already available by the late evening.
Earlier in the evening, polling showed a four-way race between former Vice President Joe Biden, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, and U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts).
Garrett said the results could shift dramatically, but there was no way to know at 10 p.m.
CBS 2 Political Investigator Dana Kozlov was in Bettendorf, Iowa Monday night, where some people overseeing the caucus at the Waterfront Convention Center also attributed the delay to the reporting out of multiple data sets.
But caucusgoers did tell Kozlov who did well at the convention center, where 11 precincts caucused Monday night. They said Biden did not do as well as expected, and Sanders did OK, but also possibly not as well as expected.
Caucusgoers in Bettendorf also said Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota) also had a respectable showing. But the big winner in Bettendorf might have been Buttigieg – caucusgoers told Kozlov.
When it was in progress, caucus was barely-controlled chaos.
Voters packed the convention center, with far more people in attendance than party organizers expected.
They sat or stood with others supporting their democratic presidential candidate of choice.
After round one, and the counting of supporters per candidate, the real convincing got under way. Precinct captains for candidates with enough support to move to round two began haggling for those bodies who supported a candidate that didn't move forward.
Andrew Yang did not move forward in Bettendorf, and his supporters were up for persuasion to join other camps.
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U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Illinois) stood by as an observer, and students from New Trier and West Leyden high schools took it all in.
It was an up-close and personal taste of democracy in action.
"So far, I've learned that, you know, people can actually come together and just put themselves together for a common cause," said West Leyden Senior Jonathan Campos.
But Iowa's democratic winners could come down to the undecideds.
"I like a lot of the things that Bernie and Warren stand for, but I don't know if the moderates are going to go for them, and I think our main goal is just to beat Trump," said Iowa voter Jill Asbury.
Most of the caucus participants in the convention center were out by 9:15 p.m., after about two and a half or three hours. People were invited to stay for an afterparty to watch results come in, but few did, as it was expected to be a very long night.
As people left, there were complaints about trouble counting votes because of the rule changes with regard to data sets. There were concerns about a lot of discrepancies about exactly who got what support – which could ultimately affect well how a candidate did or did not do, especially when it comes to moving forward in campaign momentum.
But that is all being worked out in the Iowa state capital of Des Moines. In Bettendorf, some complained that the caucus was confusing and not well-organized for many who are used to taking part in the caucus procedure.
Late Monday, sources told The Associated Press that Iowa Democratic Party officials were holding a call with campaigns amid the delays in reporting of results.
