Buttigieg campaign claims ‘irregularities’ in Nevada caucuses

Presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg is claiming there are “irregularities” in data from the Nevada caucuses and calling on the state’s Democratic party to address them.

Buttigieg’s campaign sent a letter to the Nevada Democratic Party’s chairman asking for the release of early vote and in-person vote totals by precinct, corrections to any outstanding early vote and an explanation on the “anomalies in the data.” 

“Given how close the race is between second and third place, we ask that you take three steps before releasing any final data,” the letter obtained by The Hill stated.

The campaign alleged the “process of integrating early votes into the results of the in-person precinct caucuses” was “plagued with errors and inconsistencies.”

It also accused some precinct chairmen of not allowing groups that were not viable during the first alignment to become viable during the second alignment. The letter called on the party to address and explain any further errors. 

Buttigieg’s campaign acknowledged the party has “worked tirelessly” to “ensure that the Caucuses would be a success.”

“We only ask that you take the time in the next 24-48 hours to deliver on that goal by offering the level of transparency and accuracy that you have promised throughout the process,” the letter said. 

Hari Sevugan, Buttigieg’s deputy campaign manager, said in a statement to The Hill that their data shows a “razor thin margin for second place in Nevada.”

“And due to irregularities and a number of unresolved questions we have raised with the Nevada Democratic Party, it’s unclear what the final results will be,” he said.

A Nevada Democratic Party spokesperson said in a statement to The Hill that the party has been transparent with the “step by step” process and “communicated these processes to all campaigns.”

“We are continuing to verify and to report results,” the spokesperson said. “We never indicated we would release a separate breakdown of early vote and in-person attendees by precinct and will not change our reporting process now. As laid out in our recount guidance, there is a formal method for requesting a challenge of results.”

The Nevada caucuses results show Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)  winning the state decisively, claiming 46 percent of the vote with 60 percent of precincts reporting. Buttigieg is currently in third with 15 percent of the vote, trailing former Vice President Joe Biden, who has almost 20 percent.