Iowa's voting status in doubt after delays

Iowa's coveted position as the first-in-the-nation presidential nominating contest faces its most daunting challenge in light of problems that kept the state Democratic Party from reporting results.

The caucuses were already facing plenty of headwinds amid criticism that the overwhelmingly white state isn't representative of the country's diversity. And the final weeks of the campaign were complicated by US President Donald Trump's impeachment trial, which sidelined several candidates and left Iowa eerily quiet at a pivotal moment.

But the Iowa Democratic Party's failure to release results on Monday night left the contest, long criticized for its complicated rules, one step closer to losing its status.

"With this reporting debacle, it may be the end," said Joe Trippi, a longtime Democratic presidential campaign operative and veteran of multiple Iowa campaigns.

Iowa Democratic Party officials, who run the contest, said on Monday night that results were indefinitely delayed, not because of an outside hack but because of the malfunction of an app that was intended to ease the reporting of results from almost 1,700 precincts.

Once the app failed, the backup telephone reporting method became bogged down as leaders from the hundreds of precinct caucuses tried reporting to Iowa's 99 counties, then each of those county chairmen to the state party, prompting an epic telephone backlog.

Nevada's Democratic Party said on Tuesday that it will not use the app for its caucus on Feb 22.

Party officials in Iowa had released the results of 71 percent of precincts by late Tuesday.

The results showed former Midwestern mayor Pete Buttigieg had a slight lead over progressive Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.

It was too early to call a winner based on the initial results, but Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, former US vice-president Joe Biden and Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar were trailing in the tally of State Delegate Equivalents, according to reports.

Agencies, Scott Reeves and William Hennelly in New York contributed to this story.