Iowa caucus live updates: Results delayed due to ‘quality checks’ and new reporting rules, Iowa Democrats say

The party said the problem was not a result of a “hack or an intrusion” and promised that final results would be released Tuesday.

The statement came after tens of thousands voters spent hours Monday night sorting through a field of nearly a dozen candidates who had spent much of the previous year fighting to win the opening contest of the 2020 campaign and, ultimately, the opportunity to take on President Donald Trump this fall.

The confusion threatened to permanently stain the kickoff caucuses and allowed critics to raise questions about the integrity of this year’s results whenever they are released. And with no official evidence to the contrary, virtually every candidate claimed momentum heading into next-up New Hampshire, which votes in just seven days.

Here’s how the night unfolded and what we know so far about the delayed results.

The Iowa Democratic Party says it expects to release data from the Iowa caucuses later Tuesday.

Chairman Troy Price says the party is manually verifying its data against paper backups but says systems are taking “longer than expected.” He said the delays were the result of a reporting issue, not a hack or intrusion.

Price addressed reporters shortly after the party updated presidential campaigns about the status of the delayed results in the kickoff caucuses. He did not take any questions in the call with reporters.

Even without official results, some candidates have tried to declare victory and claim momentum based on their own internal data. The Associated Press has not called a winner of Monday’s caucuses. — Associated Press

The Iowa Democratic Party has told the presidential campaigns in a late-night phone call that voting results from the first-in-the-nation caucuses are delayed because there are “redundancies in the results.”

An aide to Elizabeth Warren’s presidential campaign tells The Associated Press early Tuesday that party officials are hand-checking the results. The aide says the party said it expected to release caucus results later Tuesday.

It’s the second call party officials have held with the campaigns to try to explain why results from the crucial kick-off caucus were not being reported. Officials said earlier that there were “inconsistencies” in some reporting.

The aide spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity early Tuesday to describe a private call.

Even without official results, some candidates tried to declare victory and claim momentum based on their own internal data. The Associated Press has not called a winner of Monday’s caucuses. — Will Weissert, Associated Press

The Iowa Democratic Party is holding a late-night call with the presidential campaigns about the delay in reporting caucus results, according to officials from two of the campaigns.

It’s the second call party officials have held with the campaigns to try to explain why results from the crucial kick-off caucus were not being reported. Officials said earlier that there were “inconsistencies” in some reporting.

The officials spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity early Tuesday to describe a private call.

Even without official results, some candidates tried to declare victory and claim momentum based on their own internal data. The AP has not called a winner of Monday’s caucuses. — Julie Pace, AP Washington bureau chief

Organizers running precincts for Iowa’s first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses didn’t get to test the mobile app they were to use to report results until just hours before voting began.

Iowa party officials had said they would not be sending the new mobile app to precinct chairs for downloading until just before the caucuses to narrow the window for any interference. Some precinct chairs said they had trouble downloading or logging into the app and didn’t use it.

As of late Monday, the Iowa Democratic Party had yet to report any results, saying they have been delayed because of “inconsistencies” in the count.

An Iowa Democratic Party manual had told caucus organizers that the app was the “preferred method” for reporting results. It listed a single phone number for those who chose to call them in from the 1,678 statewide precincts.

The manual laid out how the app would work: Organizers would log into the app using a PIN listed on their Caucus Math Worksheet when they called the meeting to order. They would enter the number of participants and the app would calculate the “viability threshold” for the site.

Organizers would then use the app to report the results of the first and final alignments, and the app would calculate the number of delegates each campaign won. Lastly, they would take a photo of the Caucus Math Worksheet with the written results as a backup. — Associated Press

Former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg is declaring victory in Iowa’s first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses, even though no official results have been reported.

Speaking to supporters late Monday in Des Moines, the Democratic presidential candidate says, “By all indications, we are going on to New Hampshire victorious.”

He adds: “Tonight, an improbable hope became an undeniable reality.”

The Iowa Democratic Party has yet to report any results, saying they have been delayed because of “inconsistencies” in the count.

Buttigieg acknowledged the confusion in his speech, saying, “We don’t know all the results.” He added that still, “Iowa, you have shocked the nation.”

Polls going into Iowa’s caucuses had showed Buttigieg among the front-runners, along with Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Vice President Joe Biden. — Associated Press

The campaign manager for Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren is calling delays in the Iowa caucus results “a mess” and says that “every second that passes sort of undermines the process a little bit.”

Roger Lau told reporters at Warren’s watch party in Des Moines late Monday that the campaign had seen very little official data. But he said based on the campaign’s own internal figures, it sees a three-way jumble at the top with Warren, Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg. He says their internal numbers show Joe Biden “a distant fourth.”

Lau says that he wasn’t on the call the state party had with all the campaigns but that a representative from Warren’s campaign was.

Iowa Democratic officials said results in Iowa’s first-in-the-nation caucuses were delayed because of unspecified “quality checks.” They called the problem a “reporting issue.”

Lau also said that he didn’t know if there would be further calls or updates, saying only, “I hope so.”

“We’re happy getting out of Iowa and with a ticket to New Hampshire,” Lao said. — Associated Press

An Iowa precinct chairwoman says she did not use the new app created for caucus organizers to report results because organizers had problems trying to download and test it.

“We came to a consensus not to use it,” said Ruth Thompson, who chaired a precinct at Lincoln High School in Des Moines.

Results in Iowa’s first-in-the-nation caucus were delayed Monday night because of unspecified “quality checks,” Iowa Democratic officials said. They called the problem a “reporting issue.”

Thompson said that she also did not try to report her site’s results over the phone after hearing reports of long delays in answering the line at state headquarters. Instead, veteran caucusgoers at her site used calculators to compute the delegate allocation and then texted a photo of the result to Polk County Democratic Party officials, who drove it to state party headquarters.

Thompson said the delays in results were unfortunate because the process went “remarkably smoothly” in other ways. She said that her precinct, with a turnout of 385 people, had a much larger space and finished two hours earlier than 2016.

“It was much less contentious in the room, and I feel really good about the way things went,” Thompson said. — Associated Press

An elections expert says deploying new technology so close to an election is “always a risky proposition” amid a delay in results from Iowa’s first-in-the-nation caucuses.

Des Moines County Chair Tom Courtney said that in his county, an app created for caucus organizers to report results was “a mess” and organizers were instead having to call in results to the state party on Monday night.

Iowa party officials had said they would not be sending the new mobile app to precinct chairs for downloading until just before the caucuses — to narrow the window for any interference.

Lawrence Norden, elections expert with The Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, said that was akin to a major retailer using new cash registers for the first time on Black Friday.

“To roll out a new technology without really testing it and making it available as early as possible and giving folks the opportunity to challenge it and work out all the bugs is a high-stakes decision which I think is proving to be problematic today,” Norden said.

Norden said party officials were wise to slow down the reporting to ensure accurate results, given concerns of another round of election interference by Russia or other hostile governments seeking to undermine U.S. democracy. — Associated Press

Joe Biden is declaring success in Iowa’s first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses despite results not yet being released by the state Democratic Party.

“We feel good about where we are, so it’s onto New Hampshire,” Biden said Monday night, adding that he’d “walk out of here with our share of delegates.”

The Iowa Democratic Party says the caucus results have been delayed because of unspecified “quality checks.” They say, however, that the problem is a “reporting issue,” not a “hack or an intrusion.”

Biden has said he didn’t have to win Iowa to win the nomination, but he wanted to avoid a bad showing.

Several donors attending his Des Moines watch party said they want to see Biden finish in the top three in Iowa to boost confidence going forward as the race moves to more diverse states where Biden is expected to be stronger.

For his part, Biden stuck to his usual argument, making President Donald Trump his target. “Each of us knows, deep in our bones, that everything this nation stands for is at stake,” Biden said. — Associated Press

Elizabeth Warren says the results of the Iowa caucus are “too close to call” and instead used much of a speech at her caucus party to criticize President Donald Trump.

The Massachusetts senator told hundreds who gathered to cheer her on in downtown Des Moines on Monday night: “We don’t know all the results tonight, but tonight has already shown that Americans have a hunger for big structural change.”

Her White House bid calls for fundamentally remaking the nation’s economic and political system.

Warren said, “A president’s values matters and the only thing Donald Trump values is Donald Trump.” She said the president believes “government is a tool to enrich himself and his corrupt buddies at everyone else’s expense.”

She said: “If you can imagine an America where people, not money, come first, then this campaign is for you.”

Although the Iowa results aren’t yet clear, she added: “Tonight we are one step closer to winning the fight for the America we believe is possible.”

The Iowa Democratic Party says the caucus results have been delayed because of unspecified “quality checks.” — Associated Press

Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar is the first Democratic presidential candidate to address the delayed Iowa caucus results, saying, “We know one thing: we are punching above our weight.”

The Iowa Democratic Party says the caucus results have been delayed because of unspecified “quality checks.” They say, however, that the problem is a “reporting issue,” not a “hack or an intrusion.”

Klobuchar appeared on stage late Monday as the hours ticked by without any vote totals being reported from Iowa’s first-in-the-nation caucuses.

The senator built her campaign around a strong performance in Iowa. While the results are unknown, she says, “We are bringing this ticket to New Hampshire.” — Associated Press

The Iowa Democratic Party says the delay in reporting caucus votes is the result of a “reporting issue” and not because of a “hack or an intrusion.”

Communications director Mandy McClure said Monday night that the party “found inconsistencies in the reporting of three sets of results.”

She says the party is using photos of the results and a paper trail to “validate that all results match and ensure that we have confidence and accuracy in the numbers we report.”

She says: “The underlying data and paper trail is sound and will simply take time to further report the results.”

It was not immediately clear how long it would take the state party to produce results. Iowa holds the nation’s first presidential voting contest. — Associated Press

Iowa Democratic Party officials are holding a phone call with campaigns amid delays in reporting caucus results.

People familiar with the decision spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to describe the private call.

The Iowa Democratic Party said earlier Monday night that it was experiencing a delay in reporting results from the first-in-the nation caucuses because of unspecified “quality checks.”

Communications director Mandy McClure said in a statement Monday night that the delay is also the result of the party reporting three sets of data for the first time.

McClure says the party has data so far from “around 25%” of the state’s 1,765 precincts and “and early data indicates turnout is on pace for 2016.” — Alexandra Jaffe, Associated Press

The Iowa caucus results were delayed late Monday as the state’s Democratic Party said it was conducting “quality checks” amid a new reporting system.

In a statement, the Iowa Democratic Party noted it is reporting three sets of results — the total number of people who entered the caucuses, the realignment after candidates are deemed viable and the number of delegates awarded to each campaign.

“The integrity of the results is paramount,” the party said in a statement. “We have experienced a delay in the results due to quality checks and the fact that the (party) is reporting out three data sets for the first time.”

At this point four years ago, more than 80 percent of the results had been tallied, according to media reports.

The delay frustrated campaigns as Iowa embarked on its first-in-the-nation tradition of picking presidential candidates, with clear divisions along the lines of ideology and age affecting their choices. Read more here. — Bill Ruthhart and Rick Pearson, Chicago Tribune

The results from the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses were slow to come in Monday night.

The reasons for the delays were unclear. The Iowa Democratic Party would not comment on what was slowing down reporting from caucus precincts around the state.

Des Moines County Chair Tom Courtney said technology issues appeared to be contributing to the delay. Courtney said that in his county, an app created for caucus organizers to report results was “a mess” and organizers were instead having to call in results to the state party. — Associated Press

The minutes kept ticking by, and Bryan Pollpeter just couldn’t decide.

In the first round Pollpeter was undecided, and as the deadline neared in the second and final round, he stood near the doors at the Hoover High School gym in north Des Moines and looked a bit desperate.

“I like them all, but I’m kind of swinging between Amy and Bernie,” he said, referring to Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who run the political spectrum from moderate to democratic socialist.

Pollpeter, a worker at the Des Moines Water Works, acknowledges they have different views, but he found both engaging.

Ultimately, though, he was persuaded to join with Pete Buttigieg. “I was standing over by the Amy people, but no one talked to me,” he said. “A Pete woman came over so I said, well, OK, I’ll go with Pete.”

He added, “I just want to beat Trump.” — Associated Press

Early entrance polls conducted for the national news networks showed Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren with support of caucusgoers who described themselves as “very liberal” as well as those age 29 and under. Each of those groups represented about a quarter of attendees.

Among those 65 and older — about a third of those attending — showed a preference for former Vice President Joe Biden and former South Bend, Ind. Mayor Pete Buttigieg, early results from the Edison Research survey showed. Buttigieg, 38, billed himself as an agent for generational change and showed some strength among younger voters as well.

Electability proved to be a major motivator for caucusgoers, with two-thirds preferring a candidate who could defeat President Donald Trump rather than just a contender with whom they agree. Read more here. — Bill Ruthhart and Rick Pearson, Chicago Tribune

Lines of people snaked out the door and down the block waiting to enter an Iowa caucus site Monday, among the early signs of strong turnout as Democrats begin choosing a nominee to take on President Donald Trump.

The start of a caucus in downtown Iowa City had to be delayed by more than an hour as hundreds of people were still waiting to check in or register to vote. Inside the Englert Theatre near the University of Iowa, 500 first-floor seats were mostly full and organizers were opening an additional 200 seats in the balcony.

In Polk County, Iowa’s largest county and home to the capital city, Des Moines, Democratic county party chairman Sean Bagniewski said the party had printed tens of thousands of extra voter registration forms but some precincts were running out.

“We’re making copies and deliveries to get them covered, but this caucus is gonna be the big one,” Bagniewski tweeted. He also said a caucus site in central Des Moines reported 1,080 participants, more than double the 440 who turned out in that precinct in 2016.

It’s too soon to tell what final turnout numbers will be, though some party officials and campaigns were expecting far more people to participate than four years ago, due to Democrats’ enthusiasm to replace Trump.

About 170,000 turned out in 2016. The high-water mark for the contest was the 2008 Iowa Democratic caucuses, when nearly 240,000 participated and Barack Obama defeated Hillary Clinton and Martin O’Malley. — Ryan J. Foley and Sara Burnett, Associated Press

Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bennet is spending the Iowa caucuses with New Hampshire voters — including one AARP volunteer he joked has been to more than 40 of his events.

The Colorado senator skipped out on Iowa’s first-in-the-nation caucuses Monday to hold his 47th town hall in New Hampshire. He says he’s hoping to finish in the top 3 in the state’s Feb. 11 primary. That’s a long shot based on polling that shows he isn’t breaking through despite spending more time in the state than his rivals.

He says he prides himself on never being late to an event – until Monday. Plane delays from Washington, where he was participating in President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, left his town hall attendees watching 15 minutes’ worth of Bennet video clips before he arrived.

Bennet says he’s hoping to appeal to undecided New Hampshire voters who don’t believe the leading candidates can beat Trump.

He’s not shy about taking on his more progressive, and more popular, rivals. He’s contrasting his views with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in particularly by outlining his opposition to “Medicare for All” and saying Sanders’ spending proposals are unrealistic. — Associated Press

Iowa Democrats are fiercely united by the goal of unseating President Donald Trump, but they were sharply divided Monday over which candidate was best equipped to do so, according to the AP VoteCast survey.

As the first of the nation’s presidential contests, Iowa has played a historic role in gauging which Democrats are the most competitive frontrunners. The results from AP VoteCast show how difficult it can be to join together an increasingly diverse coalition of voters whose common cause rests on their fury with the president.

Fully 88% said electability was very important for the Democratic nominee, compared to the 65% who said having the best policy ideas is highly important.

“Hey, everybody, if you want to beat Trump, come over to (Joe) Biden’s camp,” yelled Jeff Erickson, a retired postal worker, as people filed into Hoover High School in Des Moines.

Yet many of the Democratic presidential candidates have possible weaknesses when challenging Trump. Just over 4 in 10 Iowa voters said it would be harder for a woman to unseat the president. Almost 6 in 10 said a gay candidate would have more difficulty defeating Trump, a potential risk for former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg. Roughly the same share said a nominee with “strongly liberal views” would also face a harder time, while close to half said a nominee older than 75 — former Vice President Joe Biden and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders — would have a tougher time versus Trump.

Nearly two-thirds said it was more important for them to vote for a candidate who will fundamentally change how the political system works, compared with one who will restore Washington to the way it was before Trump’s inauguration. — Josh Boak and Hannah Fingerhut, Associated Press

Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren is visiting a caucus site in Des Moines as voting gets underway in the nation’s leadoff voting state.

The Massachusetts senator addressed hundreds of caucusgoers Monday night at a high school gymnasium. She sought to promote a message of unity, saying, “I’m someone who treats all of our Democrats with respect.”

She says the party should nominate a candidate whose campaign organization is as strong nationally as hers is in leadoff Iowa. She added: “I’ve got a great national organization.”

Many of her supporters wore green, the signature color of the Massachusetts senator’s campaign. They chanted, “Warren! Warren!” People caucusing for other candidates also applauded, but a large group of supporters of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders responded, “Bernie beats Trump!” — Associated Press

Iowa Democratic Party officials say an early issue with a mobile app designed to report results will not hinder the Iowa caucus process.

Iowa Democratic Party Chairman Troy Price said Monday that there were some reports from precinct officials that they couldn’t log into the app during the first-in-the-nation caucuses.

He said a team of troubleshooters is working to address any technical issues.

He added that the party has alternate ways for precincts to send in results, including a hotline.

“We’ve had an app before, but we’ve also had a hotline before, and folks have had the option to do that, and so we expect that we’ll be able to report the results in a timely manner this evening,” he said.

The app was designed to allow for the quick filing of results, and the issue appears to be the result of different PINs used for early testing and caucus night logins. — Associated Press

With new rules in Iowa, we’ll have more numbers than ever before, which also could lead to more confusion and spin from the campaigns on who wins. We break it down here. — Bill Ruthhart, Chicago Tribune

Organizers at a large precinct in downtown Iowa City say the caucus may be delayed by an hour or longer as hundreds of people wait to register to vote or check in.

By 7:25 p.m., the 500 seats on the first floor of the Englert Theatre was mostly full and organizers opened up the balcony for more than 200 extra seats. Supporters of several campaigns sat in rows.

Many others who were in line by 7 p.m. were still outside waiting to check in, the lines snaking a block in both directions. The precinct is dominated by the University of Iowa campus and campaigns are vying for nine delegates here.

Iowa kicks off voting in the nation for the presidential race. It is the first contest to measure support for the Democratic candidates.

Voters are gathered at more than 1,700 sites throughout Iowa to declare support for their preferred candidate. They then will participate in “alignment,” which allows supporters of eliminated candidates to choose again. — Associated Press

President Donald Trump is the winner of the 2020 Iowa Republican caucuses, a largely symbolic vote as he was facing no significant opposition.

Still, Trump’s campaign was using Monday’s contest to test its organizational strength, deploying Cabinet secretaries, top Republican officials and Trump family members to the state.

It’s unusual for Iowa to even be holding a GOP contest with an incumbent in the White House. The Iowa Republican caucuses were canceled in 1992 and 2004. But GOP Chairman Jeff Kaufman said state officials were determined to keep the caucuses in place this year to maintain the state’s status as the first in the nation to cast its ballots. — Associated Press

The first voters to make their choice in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination are desperate for fundamental change to the political system.

Roughly two-thirds of Iowa caucusgoers said supporting a candidate who would transform how the system in Washington works was important to their vote, according to AP VoteCast, a wide-ranging survey of voters who said they planned to take part in Monday’s Democratic caucuses in Iowa.

The survey also found that two issues that have been front and center during the campaign were at the top of Iowa Democrats’ minds: health care and climate change. — Hannah Fingerhut, Associated Press

The first voters to make their choice in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination are heading to caucus locations across Iowa tonight, bringing possible new clarity to a field that still features nearly a dozen White House contenders vying for the chance to take on President Donald Trump.

In the hours before the evening caucuses, candidates gave last-minute pep talks and pitches, while hundreds of volunteers pressed on statewide. By day’s end, tens of thousands of Democrats were to have gathered at community centers, high school gyms and more than 1,600 other caucus locations in the premiere of more than 50 contests that will unfold over the next five months. The caucuses will render the first verdict on who is best positioned to take on Trump, whom Democratic voters are desperate to beat this fall.

The moment is thick with promise for a Democratic Party that has seized major gains in states since Trump won the White House in 2016. But instead of optimism, a cloud of uncertainty and deepening intraparty resentment hung over Monday’s election.

“I’m the one who can pull our party together,” Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren told supporters on a telephone call, suggesting her rivals could not. “I’m the one who is going to pull us all in to give us the ideas that we can all run on. The one who says both inspiration and inclusiveness.”

“If anybody tells you they know who’s going to win, either they’ve got a whisper from God or they’re loony because nobody knows,” said Deidre DeJear, who announced her support for Warren on Monday and was the first black woman to win a statewide primary in Iowa.

By midday Monday, a handful of satellite caucuses had already taken place — some thousands of miles away from Iowa. In Glasgow, Scotland, Sanders received the most support from the 19 caucus-goers who attended, while Warren came in second and Buttigieg came in third. No other candidates were viable.

But the precinct caucuses are a relatively small portion of the results — some 200,000 Iowans are expected to participate in the event. — Associated Press