With the South Bend Mayor already being accused of cheating, dubious coin flips helped hand Pete Buttigieg more delegates in Iowa.
Buttigieg is receiving heat for declaring victory despite votes not being counted due to a “reporting issue.” The app used to tally the votes is owned by a parent company which is owned by a Buttigieg supporter.
However, another method of deciding delegates also has some people crying foul – coil flips.
Breaking delegate ties by a coin flip is nothing new, but the video below has caused some consternation.
How to rig a coin toss. pic.twitter.com/m9YqdDLhi3
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) February 4, 2020
It shows Buttigieg winning the last delegate in an Iowa Caucus precinct via a coin flip that doesn’t really look like it was done properly.
The person flipping the coin appears to catch it awkwardly, take a peek then flip the coin over before immediately declaring “heads” to give Buttigieg the delegate.
Ian Miles Cheong tweeted the video with the comment, “How to rig a coin toss.”
Another clip shows Pete Buttigieg winning a delegate on a coin flip to defeat Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
https://twitter.com/johnpemble/status/1224520604323368962?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1224520604323368962&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fsummit.news%2F2020%2F02%2F04%2Fdubious-coin-flips-hand-buttigieg-delegates-in-iowa%2F
Several Twitter users questioned the method.
How we choose presidents:
1. Start with a very unrepresentative state
2. Discourage almost all the voters from showing up
3. Make people sit on floors & yell at each other
4. Eliminate candidates based on an arbitrary 15% threshold
4. If there is a tie, flip a coin. really!
— Arlen Parsa (@arlenparsa) February 4, 2020
Coin tosses shouldn’t be the deciding factor of an election. Like “oh… it’s a tie… let’s just flip a coin to see if Hillary or Donald should be president. Oops tails… looks like we get Donald.” That is not Democracy. Coins should not decide elections. https://t.co/SjlPk7kO9h
— The Progressive Guy (@ProgressiveGuy_) February 4, 2020
https://twitter.com/14_dutch/status/1224736531908349952?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1224736531908349952&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fsummit.news%2F2020%2F02%2F04%2Fdubious-coin-flips-hand-buttigieg-delegates-in-iowa%2F
