US Election Cycle Kicks Off in Iowa With No Official Results

The formal electoral cycle that will determine the Democratic candidate who will face Donald Trump in the presidential elections in November began this Monday in Iowa. However, despite the start of the primaries, no official results have been released due to technical difficulties. 

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A Democratic Party application apparently did not work, and the backup system phone lines used to report the results to the  party had extensive delays, resulting in inconsistencies in the reports.

The party said it had to make “quality checks” after finding “inconsistencies” in the reporting of the data from the caucus sites, sparking frustration in the Democratic campaigns and criticism from Republicans.

As a result, more than three hours after the process was opened there were zero official results, leaving the media with nothing to report. Four years ago, almost 90 percent of the results were available at that time.

Furthermore, according to the latest RealClearPolitics national Democratic primary polling average, the forecast was a close race between at least five of the 11 Democratic candidates (only seven focused on Iowa), with former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden leading with 27.0 percent, followed by senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, with 23.7 percent and 15.0 percent, respectively.

This election cycle, which ends on November 3, is anything but normal. The struggle between Democrats will intensify, as will the great debate between the present and future of the party and of this country.

The caucuses began at 7 p.m. Central Time on Monday, bringing tens of thousands of Iowa's registered voters to churches, public libraries, and school gyms for discussions of their presidential preferences.