DNC chairman says caucuses should end after 2020 Iowa debacle

Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez called for Democrats to abandon presidential caucuses in future elections.

Speaking to the Associated Press, the DNC chairman said, “I think by 2024 we ought to have everyone being a primary state.”

Perez did not make reference to the Iowa Democratic caucus debacle in February, which dissolved into turmoil when a glitchy new app developed to help count the vote failed to function.

Precinct chairs across the state experienced problems downloading or logging into the app, one of the ways they were supposed to be able to send the results from their smaller, individual caucuses to the Iowa Democratic Party.

The chaos led to days of uncertainty about the outcome of the first-in-the-nation caucus, during which, both Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg declared victory and called for the re-canvassing of votes.

While the DNC chairman’s term will end before the 2024 Democratic presidential nominating process, Perez said he plans to “use the bully pulpit as a former chair to make sure we continue the progress” of changes, as he had tried to do after the bitter 2016 primary battle between Hillary Clinton and Sanders.

Perez has previously instituted some changes to the nominating process. In an effort to mend ties with Sanders after the 2016 race, Perez agreed to bar superdelegates, something that catapulted Clinton to the nomination.

With Post wires