How will an Iowa Democratic caucus recanvass work, and does it differ from a recount?
Calls for a recanvass in Iowa’s 2020 Democratic caucus began last week after problems with an app and more left messy, uncertain results and lingering questions about who won.
But a recanvass is more likely now that one candidate in that race — Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who is currently second in the delegate count — is requesting a partial one, according to the Associated Press.
AP reported Monday that a Sanders “campaign aide confirmed the [recanvass request] plans Sunday night, ahead of a Monday deadline for candidates to ask the Iowa Democratic Party to recanvass the results.”
How would a recanvass unfold, how is it different from a recount, and would it yield results that put Sanders ahead of the current state delegate equivalent leader, former Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana?
Here are some answers and details about how the recanvass would work.
What is a recanvass?
First, it’s important to understand how the caucuses operate: Democrats gather at more than 1,000 precincts across Iowa (and the world), then break into groups based on which candidate they support.
A candidate group that hits a “viability” threshold (usually around 15 percent of the voters at a caucus) can earn delegates at that caucus — and those delegates go to local conventions to choose state delegates that will pick Democrats’ 2020 nominee at the national convention. That’s why the delegate count matters more than the raw number of votes a candidate wins.
The Des Moines Register explains that a recanvass is a high-level check of the math at precincts.
“At the end of every caucus, the precinct chair completes a ‘caucus math worksheet’ which lists the first and final alignment numbers, as well as the county delegates for each candidate,” political reporter Katie Aikin writes. “In a recanvass, representatives for the Iowa Democratic Party audit these worksheets for every precinct and satellite caucus, checking that the numbers match what was reported through the app or telephone line.”
So how is a recanvass different than a full-scale recount?
According to the New York Times, a “recanvass involves checking the math on 1,756 precinct work sheets,” while a “recount would require the hand-counting of about 180,000 preference cards from caucusgoers across the state and around the world.”
Who can request a recanvass?
According to the Iowa Democratic Party’s 2020 delegate selection plan, “any presidential candidate may request a recanvass of district or state results by submitting a request in writing to the Iowa Democratic Party Chair.”
How and when do recanvasses get requested?
Iowa Democratic Party Chair Troy Price said last week that the deadline to request a recanvass had been extended to Monday.
Under the original Iowa Democratic Party’s 2020 delegate selection plan, the rules said “requests for recanvass must be received by the Chair no later than Friday, February 7, 2020, at 12:00 p.m.”
The party said it “will respond to a request for a recanvass within 48 hours of receipt,” noting that “the response will include an anticipated timeline for the review and an estimate of fees and payment schedule to be assessed to the campaign in order to complete the review.”
What are others saying about the recanvass request?
Democratic National Committee Chair Tom Perez called for a recanvass late last week.
“Enough is enough,” Perez wrote on Twitter Feb. 6. “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.”
But at the time, the Washington Post reported that the “state party gave no indication it planned to honor Perez’s demand, instead issuing a statement noting that it is the campaigns that are entitled to request a recanvass,” adding that “none has so far made such a request, and Sanders and Buttigieg indicated Thursday they would not.”
Who’s winning in Iowa right now?
With 100 percent of precincts reporting, Buttigieg leads in the state delegate equivalent (SDE) count with roughly 564 SDEs — just ahead of Sanders’ 561, according to the state party.
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren is in third with 388 state delegate equivalents.
The state party encourages observers to use the SDE numbers to judge the winner, but Sanders declared victory late last week saying that he had won the popular vote in the state.
This story was originally published February 10, 2020 at 1:15 PM with the headline "How will an Iowa Democratic caucus recanvass work, and does it differ from a recount?."
