Des Moines Register calls shenanigans in the #IowaCaucus (updated)

Voters sign in before the Democratic presidential caucus
at Simpson Barn in Johnston Monday, February 1, 2016.
Brenna Norman/For The Register

This is NOT a conspiracy theory about coin flips, so sit down, Clintonistas.

The Des Moines Register, the paper that endorsed Hillary Clinton, let us note, is saying something is definitely rotten in the state of the Iowa Democratic Party, to the point it's calling for a full audit of Iowa Democratic caucus results. And, per the editorial, so far, Dr. Andy McGuire, chairwoman of the party, is digging in her heels and saying no, which is going to add fuel to claims of actual conspiracies.

And, CNN is now picking up on this.

So is Change.org, which has a petition drive demanding a recount or audit.

The main point:

First of all, the results were too close not to do a complete audit of results. Two-tenths of 1 percent separated Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton. A caucus should not be confused with an election, but it’s worth noting that much larger margins trigger automatic recounts in other states.

Is pure and simple.

From there, the Register notes:

Second, too many questions have been raised. Too many accounts have arisen of inconsistent counts, untrained and overwhelmed volunteers, confused voters, cramped precinct locations, a lack of voter registration forms and other problems

The Sanders campaign is rechecking results on its own, going precinct by precinct, and is already finding inconsistencies, said Rania Batrice, a Sanders spokeswoman. 

So, the need for an audit.

Meanwhile, per McGuire digging in her heels?

Her actions only confirm the suspicions, wild as they might be, of Sanders supporters. Their candidate, after all, is opposed by the party establishment — and wasn’t even a Democrat a few months ago.

Bingo. And, as long as the Democratic hierarchy in Iowa digs in, the more and more willing I am to throw gasoline and extra matches on this tire fire.

And, beyond digging in her heels, she's now outrightly lying.

She's claiming the raw votes aren't available, when they were in 2008. McGuire is claiming that is based on "journalistic estimates." Really, down to the exact number?

Does Pinocchio live in Des Moines?

Finally, to its credit, even though it might affect Iowa’s midwinter economy every four years, the Register calls on (presumably, both parties, eventually), to take a new look at the whole caucus idea.

 

And, it gets worse. Per a post on the Iowa DP's Facebook page, this comment:

The Iowa Democratic Caucus needs deep reforms. It's bad when the Iowa Republican Caucus is more democratic (every vote actually counts, and the Iowa Republican party actually releases the vote number). Maybe it should be changed to a primary. Either way, the voters deserve better.

Is hugely damning. 

Speaking of Facebook, here's the home page of the Iowa Democratic Party. (Its Twitter account seems pretty inactive.) Go give it hell.

Related? This is yet more reason why I refuse to vote Democratic in the general election. And, I'll trumpet that ever more as part of adding yet other gasoline and matches to fires.