Disaster strikes, as the Iowa Democratic Party (IDP), had still not released the results of Monday’s vote, leading to speculations and doubts about the legitimacy of the results. Democratic nominees are also disappointed with the delay, as the caucus did more harm than good in their bid to the presidency.

In an unprecedented turn of events, the IDP had failed to deliver the result as expected on Tuesday morning. Instead, the IDP claimed that they have encountered “inconsistencies” with the report.

In a statement, the Iowa National Committee said that the delay was due to technical difficulties. “We found inconsistencies in the reporting of three sets of results, in addition to the tech systems being used to tabulate results, we are also using photos of results and a paper trail to validate that all results match and ensure that we have confidence and accuracy in the numbers we report. This is simply a reporting issue, the app did not go down and this is not a hack or an intrusion. The underlying data and paper trail is sound and will simply take time to further report the results,” the Committee wrote.

However, the IDP Chair Troy Price faced a major backlash from multiple Democratic campaigns over his team’s failure to deliver timely results. Some had even alleged conspiracy theories going into the voting process.

Price responded that the delay was a result of the party ensuring the integrity of the voting process. The problem is that when the media pressed him for the percentage of results that the committee currently has, Price could not even get a ballpark answer and simply responded with “get back to you on that info.”

The inability of the IDP to handle the situation had earned them criticism even from the most loyal Democratic followers. In fact, Bernie Sander’s Senior Campaign Adviser, Jeff Weaver claimed that the number from the three alignments was “bogus.”

In a statement, Weaver said, “We are hearing some chatter that (the party is) blaming this delay on you having to report three numbers, not one.” He even added that the results were “disappointing.”

Other voters also aired their concern on the legitimacy of the results on social media. Sean Davis, the Federalist co-founder, posted a tweet that said; “Unable to steal the votes necessary to oust Bernie Sanders from the race, Democrat party leaders in Iowa have apparently just decided to not announce the non-Biden winner in time for it to matter. You almost have to admire the chutzpah.”

Even the President’s son, Eric trump proclaimed on Twitter that “Mark my words, they are rigging this thing … what a mess.”

The lack of results had also allowed the nominees to steer the momentum. Even former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg announced that he had “won the caucus, as he claimed that the “internal” numbers showed his lead. “Seventy-seven percent of our precinct captains have reported results from their caucuses.”

Former presidential adviser Marianne Williamson responded, “Did Pete Buttigieg just claim victory in Iowa when the results haven’t been announced yet?”

Another nominee also claimed to lead the caucus by releasing his own “internal data”. Sen. Bernie Sanders announced that his “internal data” represent the total 40% of the precincts, and show that Sanders was leading a tight fight against Buttigieg.

Then, there was Sen. Amy Klobuchar who thanked her supporters even when there were no results yet. Meanwhile, in the precincts, Polk County Democratic Chairman Sean Bagniewski confirmed that his county Des Mines which has 177 precincts, told CNN that their calls were disconnected for an hour-and-a-half.

As Bagniewski said, “There’s no way to report them.” He added, “We’re still not sure what’s going on with the app and phone lines for state reporting”. It took several hours until his team was able to deliver the results at 1:27 a.m.

The Democrats understood the massive impact of the delay. Even Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s aide said in a statement “With every passing minute that there is a delay, we worry that the process will lose credibility.”

The Iowa Caucus is an important part of the campaign, as it will serve as a launchpad for aspiring presidential nominees. As seen in the previous election, the Iowa caucus can give significant leverage for the nominees and can set the tone for their entire campaign, a strategy which had worked for Jimmy Carter, and even former Democrat President Barrack Obama.

According to Breitbart News, what would happen is that the “winner” of the Iowa Caucus “will be the candidate who receives the most statewide delegate equivalents.” The results will come from 1,681 different voting locations from 170,000 to 200,000 Democrat voters.