Iowa Democrats hold scores of in-state, out-of-state satellite caucuses

The Iowa Democratic Party conducted scores of satellite caucuses within and outside of the state for the first time Monday, allowing voters as far away as Europe to participate in a caucus that has been marred by inconsistencies resulting in a severe delay to results.

Iowa Democrats set up 87 satellite caucuses, including 60 for in-state voters with specific needs and 27 for voters who are out of state, including those even out of the country, with three international caucuses in Glasgow, Scotland; Tbilisi, Georgia; and Paris. The party had tested satellite caucuses previously but greatly increased the effort this year.

Out of these, the caucuses included 14 in workplace-related locations such as hospitals, 24 on college campuses, 29 to accommodate accessibility needs, 11 for people with language or cultural accommodations and nine for those who winter outside the Hawkeye State.

The results of in-state caucuses will function as an additional county within the congressional district, with one per district. For out-of-state caucuses, the outcome is supposed to be reported as one “at large” satellite caucus county. 

The Iowa Democratic Party has not yet released the results of the state’s first-in-the-nation presidential vote as of Tuesday morning, blaming an app that was expected to expedite the announcement of the outcome. The party says the app did not work properly, and it plans to release the 2020 results “as soon as possible today” without providing a guarantee the numbers would come Tuesday.

Precinct leaders told reporters that they confronted issues reporting through the app, and some attempted to call in the results only to be met with overwhelmed help lines. It is unclear what exactly went wrong with the app, whether it had a glitch or if user error contributed. 

The Hill has reached out to the Iowa Democrats for information on if the satellite caucuses were affected by the app reporting issues. 

Individual results of various satellite caucuses, however, were published in various news reports.

The Glasgow caucus ended up seeing nine votes for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), six votes for Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and three votes for former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, making all three candidates viable, according to USA Today. 

In Washington, D.C., 42 out of 100 caucusgoers backed Warren, 23 went with Buttigieg, 20 sided with former Vice President Joe Biden and 15 voted for Sanders, local radio station WAMU reported.

On the other side of the country, 42 Iowa voters in Palm Springs, Calif., sided with Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), with Biden trailing with 29 and Buttigieg with 21, out of more than 100 voters, the Los Angeles Times reported. 

In the state itself, the University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics held a caucus at 5:30 p.m. to accommodate hospital workers, resulting in Sanders earning 16 of 18 votes. Another caucus was held at the Central Iowa Center for Independent Living, with Warren garnering 35 votes and Sanders getting 15, giving her two delegates and him one, the Des Moines Register reported.

A caucus specifically for the deaf held in American Sign Language wound up awarding two delegates to Warren and one each to Buttigieg and Biden, according to the Iowan newspaper.