Coin tosses were apparently used to determine how six county convention delegates were assigned during the caucuses last night in Iowa.
Ames, Des Moines, Newtown, West Branch and Davenport counties were all determined by coin toss. A coin toss can be used when manual head counts result in a tie between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders supporters or other complicated discrepancies, as described by the Des Moines Register.
This video shows a "letting the coin land on the ground" tie-breaking in West Davenport.
Unbelievable coin toss decides a dead heat in west Davenport! @HillaryClinton wins! @chucktodd @CNBC @NBCNews pic.twitter.com/CtsvYJllBf
— Andrew Tadlock (@andytadlock) February 2, 2016
And here's another one, in Des Moines.
This is how the #IowaCaucus works. A tie is solved tossing a coin @HillaryClinton wins pic.twitter.com/yZDTUKFJXQ
— Fernando Peinado (@FernandoPeinado) February 2, 2016
Iowa Democratic Party spokesperson Sam Lau said that the flips determined county convention delegates, but those are only a fraction of the state delegates awarded to candidates. He said the coin tosses did not affect the overall result in the state.
