Amid the chaos stemming from the delayed Iowa caucus results, many are noting reports of discrepancies between Black Hawk County’s data and those reported by Iowa Democrats. Black Hawk County Supervisor Chris Schwartz claimed on his Facebook page that the region has possessed a count for over 24 hours and says there has been no communication for the process of releasing their results.
In response, Schwartz posted the county’s results to social media, and commentators highlighted how they differed from the ones released by the Iowa Democrats.
Civil rights activist Shaun King pointed to the massive difference in the counts for candidates Tom Steyer and Deval Patrick, both of whom appear to have more counts in the Iowa Democrats’ count than the Black Hawk County count.
Progressive commentator Kyle Kulinski also addressed the reported discrepancy and suggested foul play.
“You don’t accidentally give [Bernie Sanders’] support to Steyer or Deval Patrick,” he tweeted. “That’s not a thing that happens. It was definitely intentional & we need every single county supervisor to independently release their vote totals right now. How do we know they didn’t do this every county?!”
Although Iowa Democrats issued a statement claiming that there will be a “minor correction” to the last batch of results, Kulinski didn’t appear pleased.
“How do we know you didn’t undercut Bernie in every single county, like its now proven you did in Black Hawk county????” he asked.
Dear @IowaDemocrats,
How in the HELL did the county supervisor in Black Hawk report 27 votes for Steyer and then you gave him 396?
How did they report less than 5 votes for Deval Patrick and you have him 494?
Please explain this! pic.twitter.com/QGm3HpyKvR
— Shaun King (@shaunking) February 5, 2020
Writing for The Nation, progressive journalist John Nichols addressed the Iowa Democrats’ statement and claimed that the party was only making matters worse in their handling of the situation.
“At this point, that’s adding insult to injury,” he wrote.
The New York Times reports that 86 percent of the Iowa caucus results have been released, with Pete Buttigieg currently in a narrow lead over Bernie Sanders.
But for supporters of the Vermont senator, the damage appears to be done.
During an episode of The Hill’s Rising, progressive commentator Krystal Ball claimed the results were rigged.
“It was rigged, what can I tell ya? That is not a conspiracy, it is a simple objective statement of fact.”
She pointed to the many alleged connections between the caucus app developer and the Democratic establishment — as well as Buttigieg’s campaign — and attacked the party’s institutions, claiming they are “clearly sold” to a “coalition of grifters and donors.”
Ball also blasted the Iowa Democratic Party for its lack of transparency, as it has yet to reveal any information on how the results are being announced and how they have decided what precincts will be released in each batch.