Palm Springs satellite caucus chair speaks on confusion, recanvassing possibility

There is growing concern within the Democratic Party about the accuracy of results in the Iowa caucuses, with candidates calling for partial recanvass — including for satellite caucuses like the one here in the valley last week.

Scott Kirkpatrick, chair of the Palm Springs caucus. said Tuesday despite the chaos in Iowa and other parts of the country, the caucus here went smoothly and the results are accurate.

108 registered voters participated, giving 4 delegates to Amy Klobuchar, 3 to Joe Biden, and 2 to Pete Buttigieg.

But now, more than a week after those votes were cast, and with Sanders and Buttigieg neck and neck — their campaigns have filed requests for partial caucus recanvasses, saying more careful calculations could swing more delegates in their favor.

For Kirkpatrick, it was smooth sailing in Palm Springs compared to the chaos that crippled other precincts. At the heart of much of the trouble was a first-time app some caucus leaders never received training for.

Kirkpatrick said he got access to the app 10 days prior to caucus night, and could practice submitting results in a test mode.

"The precinct captains in Iowa were not given access as early as what I had and in fact a lot of them only had access the night of the caucus," he said.

After this year's confusion, some are calling to abandon the caucus system altogether. Kirkpatrick hopes that won't take place.

"I'd like to see the caucuses continue," he said. "I think it has a lot of tradition."

If a recanvass does take place, the preference cards Iowa voters filled out on caucus night will need to be re-verified. Those cards are now in the hands of the Iowa Democratic Party, from whom there is no word tonight on how long that process could take.

You can reach Jake on Twitter, Facebook or email him at jake.ingrassia@kesq.com.