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Bernie Sanders: Hillary Clinton Trying To Steal Polk County — New Allegations

By Steph Bazzle
Published on: 14:58 PST, Mar 12, 2016

Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton supporters met up in Iowa Saturday night for county Democratic conventions. In Polk County, however, there are claims emerging that counts were less than accurate, and accusations that deliberate ploys were used to negatively effect Sanders’ campaign. This follows previous claims of similar mismanagement in the same county during the state’s caucus.

States use various methods to choose the candidates to whom they will apportion their delegates, and in Iowa, the process is multi-step, beginning with a caucus in February to determine which candidates will be considered viable, and followed by party conventions in March, where delegates are apportioned to each candidate based on level of support.

In February, Sanders supporters expressed concerns when they felt that voter counts had been mishandled. Specifically, voters divided into groups to support either Hillary or Bernie, but after being counted, the voters shuffled, rearranging into slightly different groups for a re-count. Claims began to emerge that workers added newcomers to Clinton’s voter count, but didn’t do a complete re-count, thus failing to properly account for any voters who left her group.

C-SPAN video captures the count and recount process.

USA Today reports that Sanders’ campaign requested a review of the incident, and the Iowa Democratic Party chairwoman refused, saying that results are final.

Bernie Sadners: Hillary Clinton stealing election
[Photo by J.D. Pooley/Getty Images]
Now there are allegations of further issues at the Democratic convention, again in Polk County. According to KCCI, Clinton supporters challenged the first count and demanded an investigation into the credentials of delegates. This began, but is a lengthy process, and resulted in confusion and frustration — and in some supporters leaving before the final count could be completed.

Some of Sanders’ supporters are calling this a deliberate tactic on the part of Hillary Clinton’s campaign — an attempt to delay and even prevent Sanders’ supporters from voting.

Claims of Clinton’s campaign instructing Sanders’ supporters to leave also arose.

Sanders’ official campaign Twitter page bore the following messages Saturday evening:

Though at least one delegate spoke of difficulties due to the recount conflicting with her other obligations, its clear that many were able to cast their votes.

Hillary Clinton was speaking in St. Louis on Saturday, and not present herself at the Polk County convention. She did mention Bernie Sanders, saying, according to STLToday, that America needed to guard against “making promises we can’t keep or proposals that don’t add up,” but if any deliberate manipulation of voters and counts did occur in Iowa on Saturday, there is no sign she was any direct part of it.

Bernie Sanders was not present either. He was also in Missouri Saturday afternoon, where the News-Leader reports that crowds were so thick six hours before the rally was even scheduled to begin that not all attendees would be allowed inside the building.

Bernie Sadners and Hillary Clinton in tight race
[Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images]
How did the delegate check and recount affect the final outcome?

BerniePost is currently reporting that final delegate counts for Polk County are virtually equal, with Bernie carrying two more than Clinton. However, reports say that initial counts were in Sanders’ favor, and subsequent counts skewed toward Clinton.

During the recount process, a number of Sanders supporters expressed the belief that Clinton’s campaign had ‘stolen’ the election in the county, taking more delegates than deserved.

According to Bloomberg, the current official delegate count, not including superdelegates, is Bernie Sanders: 551 and Hillary Clinton: 766. Clinton also currently holds 465 superdelegates compared to Sanders’ 25.

[Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images]

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