As the Iowa caucuses kick off the 2016 presidential race, everyone keeps talking about “democracy in action.”
Well, here it is:
Wow: Des Moines Precinct 70 was 61-61 and was decided by a coin flip. Went to Hillary.
— nevona (@nevona) February 2, 2016
When Des Moines Democrats find a tie—as they did at about 8:15pm CT on Monday night—they break it the same way we did in junior high school: A coin toss on a gymnasium floor, exactly as the Founding Fathers foresaw.
With former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders in a dead heat, some have reported that the coin toss could have tipped Iowa in the independent Vermont senators’ direction. That is not, however, the situation—even if the confusing caucus process made it seem that way.
MSNBC is completely wrong. The coin flip settled 1 COUNTY DELEGATE in several precincts. Clinton's ahead by a few STATE DELEGATE EQUIVALENTS
— Bleeding Heartland (@LauraRBelin) February 2, 2016
Still, Clinton won. Sanders lost. Democracy, everybody.
Update: 11:56pm CT, Feb. 1: Added additional contextual information about the consequences of the coin toss.
Illustration by Max Fleishman