Johnson County Republicans Forgiving of Vote Tally Mixup

As a Johnson County Precinct Chair, Roger Anderson was responsible for calling in the numbers to the state office. He said from that experience, he could see how the numbers could have gotten mixed up.

In an election separated by eight votes, a missing paper slip here, a transcription mistake there, can make a big difference.

Human error in elections, he said, is hard to avoid, and the state party is paying the price for that in the court of public opinion.

"Yes I think it makes them look bad, but I don't think that's fair," Anderson said. "They maybe should have stressed more on Tuesday night, the caucus night, these numbers had not yet been certified."

On election night, Mitt Romney defeated Rick Santorum by eight votes. On Thursday, the Iowa Republican Party that after the certification process was completed, Rick Santorum was in the lead by 34 votes. Eight precincts (out of 1,774) were unable to have their votes counted for a reason not disclosed by the party, and this led to the party hedging, not declaring Santorum the winner even though he apparently has the most votes.

Anderson said the recertification process is standard protocol where the county parties send their paper results to the party for final tabulations. He said changes to the final vote happen all the time, but in a final vote count like this that is so close, those changes and irregurities get magnified.

Anderson said with Santorum leading in the counties that weren't counted, the Iowa GOP just should have declared Santorum the winner, although he said there may be other considerations that he might not know about.

University of Iowa professor Tim Hagle said practically speaking, the difference between Romney and Santorum being declared the victor is not that impactful.

"I think effectively both of them won, and both of them it treated that way," Hagle said.

He said where it might be more impactful is to give critics of Iowa's first in the nation status more momentum in their quest to supplant Iowa.

"What you're going to see in four years, as the parties get together they're going to be arguing about whether we continue to have Iowa and New Hampshire go first," Hagle said. "It does give some additional ammunition for people who think there should be a change in the process."

Deb Dirksen, a member of the Johnson County Republican, said that the Iowa Caucus has looser rules than a general election -- such as allowing same day registration -- and thus should not be treated by the same standards. She said, it is in effect a straw poll, a snapshot of what the active Republicans in the state are thinking at any one time.

"A straw poll is not hanging chads or anything like that," she said. "This is a finger on the pulse so to speak, it's not an actual election."

Arleigh Clemens, Johnson County Republican Co-chair, said that with 1,774 precincts and a list of different requirements to meet in a high pressure situation, human error is inevitable.

 "I'm not embarrassed by the results, and i don't think Iowa has anything to be embarrassed about either," Clemens said.