The Wait is Over

Iowa caucus results finally released showing Sanders and Buttigeg in the lead.

By Ryann Thomson

After days of waiting for the Iowa caucus results, two candidates have become the clear winners: Peter Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders. 

What is a caucus? Well, in a caucus, voters are required to show up to their designated location in person. The voters then begin to physically group up by their first-choice candidate.

Throughout the evening, they debate with other caucus-goers about the different candidates running in hopes of pulling as many people to their candidate’s corner. However, if one group does not have 15% for their choice, they are deemed “non viable,” which means that candidate does not have enough support; their supporters must move then to their second choice.

The tallies are then counted, and from there the candidates see how many delegates, who represent a group, they have. 

This year, the results of the caucus were delayed due to a malfunction in a new app called “Shadow” that was used to count the votes.

Finally, the results were released. The winners came out to be Peter Buttigieg with 26.2% of Iowa delegates and Bernie Sanders with 26.1% of Iowa delegates. 

Historically, the person who wins Iowa moves on to be the Democratic nominee. However, due to the issues with the new system that was implemented in Iowa this year, the true winner came into question. After the caucuses were finished, almost all of the candidates claimed victory. The malfunction led to many believing this would hurt the Democratic cause in the 2020 presidential election and believe it is important now more than ever for candidates to stand together instead of fight amongst themselves.