The first major event of the 2020 US election campaign proved chaotic, with more than one candidate claiming victory.
With our own general election looming, things are hotting up in American politics.
After four years in office, US President Donald Trump will defend his crown this November. His opponent has yet to be decided, with 11 Democratic candidates vying for the opportunity.
Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg lead the chasing pack.
Monday night (3 February) was supposed to shed some insightful light on a frontrunner, with the Democratic presidential primary contest kicking off in Iowa.
The local caucuses saw voting begin in over 1,600 precincts at approximately 7pm local time. By 11pm, no results were made available, with “inconsistencies” and “quality control checks” cited.
“We found inconsistencies in the reporting of three sets of results,” said Iowa Democratic communications director Mandy McClure.
“This is simply a reporting issue. The app did not go down, and this is not a hack or an intrusion. The underlying data and paper trail is sound and will simply take time to further report the results.”
Joe Biden blasted the situation, noting that there are “considerable flaws” in the voting process. “These acute failures are occurring nationwide,” Biden said in a statement directed at the Iowa Democratic Party.
Addressing a crowd of his supporters while awaiting the results, Sanders claimed an early victory.
“Let me begin by saying that I imagine, I have a strong feeling, that at some point the results will be announced and when those results are announced I have a good feeling we’re going to be doing very, very well here in Iowa.
“And the message that Iowa has sent to the nation, the message shared by the American people, is that we want a government that represents all of us, not just wealthy campaign contributors and the 1%.”
Sanders’ campaign team released data of their own, claiming to represent results from almost 40% of Iowa precincts. If accurate, the data would indicate that early win, placing Sanders on 28% of the vote with Buttigieg – who told his own supporters that he was victorious – on 25%.
The candidates now move on to New Hampshire for the next leg of the campaign with the results from night one yet to be revealed as of Tuesday morning.
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