Iowa Caucus 2016 Conspiracies: 4 Theories Of What Happened With Clinton-Sanders Vote

In the aftermath of Hillary Clinton's extremely narrow victory in Iowa's Democratic caucuses, some of Sen. Bernie Sanders' supporters can't shrug off a suspicions about the slim margin. A slew of conspiracy theories floated across the Internet Tuesday skeptical of Clinton's 0.3 percent lead Monday among Iowa caucusgoers.

Here are a few of the theories of what unfolded in the Democratic caucus race in Iowa:

The Coin Toss

At a few precincts, the two candidates were actually tied, so, under the Iowa Democratic Party rule, the tie was broken with a coin toss. Initial reports falsely indicated that Clinton won at all six of these precincts, defying mathematical probability. But the latest report from the Des Moines Register said it is not known how many coin tosses there were since precincts were not required to report them when they sent their results. At least seven precincts resorted to chance, and it is now being reported that Clinton won five coin tosses, but it is unclear if those wins were among the coin tosses officially reported to the party.

Not All Precincts Were Counted

Precinct totals were not all available when Clinton declared victory Monday night, as several did not release tallies until early into the morning. It was not until Tuesday morning that Precinct No. 42 reported its results, which indicated an even tighter race between the candidates. At the precinct, Sanders won seven delegates and Clinton won five, leading Sanders' campaign to call for the raw vote totals to determine who won the popular vote, according to the Des Moines Register.

“I honestly don’t know what happened. I know there are some precincts that have still not reported. I can only hope and expect that the count will be honest,” Sanders told the Guardian. “I have no idea. Did we win the popular vote? I don’t know, but as much information as possible should be made available.”

Reports of Clinton Voter Fraud At Certain Precincts

In a video uploaded to C-SPAN, it appears to show that the Clinton precinct captain did not properly count all of the attendees. The first vote showed there were 459 voters, including ex-Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley's eight votes. Since O'Malley failed to garner enough support, his supporters were forced to disband and were allowed to either leave or support another candidate. The second tally counted only 456 voters, indicating that three people left, but Clinton still gained 14 voters. The math does not add up: If three people left, Clinton, at most, could have won five voters. Caucus chair Drew Gentsch and precinct captain Liz Buck could not agree on the total number of voters, but did not conduct a third vote.

Did Microsoft's Voting App Tamper With Results?

Microsoft worked with both parties this campaign season at no cost to provide a mobile vote reporting app for the precincts. Voters from both parties questioned why the software company would partner with the election committees for free. “You’d have to ask yourself why they’d want to give something like that away for free,” said Pete D’Alessandro, who headed Sanders' campaign in Iowa, ahead of the caucuses.