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Coin toss gives Clinton win in WB1
by Rick DeClue · News · February 04, 2016
Two Democratic precincts, West Branch 1 and Gower-Springdale, sent the Clinton and Sanders camps home from West Branch High School Tuesday after a split vote, a hair-splitting delegate count decided by a coin toss and nine total delegates assigned to each side.
Gower-Springdale was somewhat less dramatic. Their vote count was 73 for Sanders and 50 for Clinton, with a 4-2 delegate count.
The final count for WB1 was 115 votes for Clinton and 99 for Sanders. After Martin O’Malley failed to attract enough votes to be viable for delegates, all but four of his supporters crossed to one of the two leaders.
According to the Des Moines Register, five other precincts were decided by coin flips, all of which went to Clinton.
Because of how delegates are calculated, the original WB1 delegate count was a 6-6 tie. With the four O’Malley holdouts declining to tilt the balance, the Clinton and Sanders organizers agreed to a coin toss.
The toss by a Sanders representative came up heads, pushing the WB1 count to 7-5 Clinton.
However, at press time, official caucus results released by the Iowa Democratic Party show Clinton and Sanders each with six delegates. A phone call to the IDP was not returned before the Times went to press.
Upon entering the high school auditorium for the WB1 caucus, it was evident the vote would be close. The Sanders group occupied the lower center section of seats – seven rows of 14 seats each.
The Clinton group sat in the upper center, with a similar number of seats. Both seemed full.
A stir occurred when organizers opened one of the side sections for the Sanders camp. In the end, this was more than balanced by Clinton’s Women for Hillary group seated on the other side of the auditorium.
Sanders supporters appeared to trend slightly younger, though the oldest ranged to 78 years old. Clinton and Sanders both showed solid gender balance, with many male Clinton backers content to sit in the Women for Hillary section.
Clara Oleson spoke of Clinton’s experience, especially in foreign policy, and coalition building. Oleson focused on the latter by citing her own political experience going back to Shirley Chisolm’s 1980 run for president as an African-American woman.
Local attorney Sally Peck and Elizabeth Fox spoke of Sanders’ long experience and passionate fight against inequality in all forms.
Yet the night focused more on votes than issues or policy. There were two full rounds of voter pursuit, with the Clinton backers the most vocal and having some success. Organizers took several counts to ensure accuracy.
In total, the candidates were only seven votes apart in the two precincts, and tied for delegates. This fairly reflected early state-wide results.
While a couple of exchanges, one regarding the outcome of the coin toss, between Clinton and Sanders supporters got heated in WB1, the night was generally congenial.
— Gregory R. Norfleet contributed to this report
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