Confusion and chaos erupted at one of the most important events of the election season, as results from the Iowa Democratic Caucus have still not been released. The Iowa Democratic Party (IDP) has reported, “inconsistencies,” within some of the results. Most of the issues with the caucus have been because of technical issues with a new app that was meant to be used by precinct captains. The app was implemented in an attempt to speed up the reporting process.

“While the app was recording data accurately, it was reporting out only partial data. We have determined that this was due to a coding issue in the reporting system,” said Troy Price, chairman of the IDP. Price said that the coding issue was, “identified and fixed.” The chairman has also stated that the there is no evidence of hacking and that there is a “paper trail,” so when the results do come in, they are almost certain to be credible.

However, the app was not the only issue with the Iowa caucus. As a backup measure in the event that the app had some technical issues, precinct captains could call a hotline and report results over the phone. However, due to widespread problems with the app, the IDP phone lines were busy, with many precinct captains electing to not use the app and instead call in their results. Many were put on hold and wait times were very long. One precinct captain had been on hold for one hour when the IDP finally picked up – and then promptly hung up on him, CBS reported.

Despite the technical issues, a number of Democratic hopefuls expressed optimism about their caucus performance. Notably, Pete Buttigieg claimed victory in the caucus despite no official results. Buttigieg’s preemptive celebration has not gone over well on social media – “Mayor Cheat,” a pun on Buttigieg’s nickname, “Mayor Pete,” was trending on Twitter.

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