DNC chair calls for accountability after Iowa Caucus fiasco

Iowa Democratic Party chair Troy Price. Photo: Joshua Lott/AFP via Getty Images

Democratic National Committee chair Tom Perez called Tuesday for the vote-tallying app that delayed results from Iowa's caucuses to "provide absolute transparent accounting of what went wrong."

The big picture: The Iowa Democratic Party has released results from 62% of the precincts that caucused on Monday, after a software error held up results from the first real test of candidates' appeal to voters in the 2020 presidential election.

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"What happened last night should never happen again. We have staff working around the clock to assist the Iowa Democratic Party to ensure that all votes are counted.  It is clear that the app in question did not function adequately. It will not be used in Nevada or anywhere else during the primary election process. The technology vendor must provide absolute transparent accounting of what went wrong. 

"Our immediate goal is to ensure that every vote is counted as quickly as possible.  Accuracy is our guidepost.

"As frustrating as the last 24 hours have been, let us not lose sight of our ultimate goal: To defeat Donald Trump, to take back our democracy, and to improve the lives of millions by electing Democrats up and down the ballot."

DNC chair Tom Perez's Tuesday statement

The other side: Shadow Inc., reported by multiple outlets as the creator of the app used by the DNC, said on Tuesday it sincerely regrets the delay in reporting results from Iowa "and the uncertainty it has caused to the candidates, their campaigns, and Democratic caucus-goers."

• Shadow pointed out that the app was "optional for local officials to use" and said that its technical difficulties "did not affect the underlying caucus results data."

Go deeper: States trying to avoid repeating Iowa's caucus nightmare