Comment on Pete Buttigieg questions 3rd place finish in Nevada

LAS VEGAS — Pete Buttigieg’s campaign has questioned his third-place finish in Nevada’s caucuses and called for the state’s Democratic Party to release a more detailed breakdown of votes and address reports of more than 200 problems allocating votes in Saturday’s caucuses. But the Nevada Democratic Party is suggesting that Buttigieg’s campaign seek a recount if it wants to challenge results. In a letter sent to the state party late Saturday night and provided to The Associated Press on Sunday, the Buttigieg campaign said the process of integrating four days of early voting into in-person caucuses held Saturday was “plagued with errors and inconsistencies.” The campaign also said it received reports that volunteers running caucuses did not appear to follow rules that could have allowed candidates to pick up more support on a second round of voting. Bernie Sanders won Nevada’s caucuses, with Joe Biden a distant second and Buttigieg in third. “Currently our data shows that this is a razor-thin margin for second place in Nevada, and due to irregularities and a number of unresolved questions we have raised with the Nevada Democratic Party, it’s unclear what the final results will be,” Buttigieg’s deputy campaign manager, Hari Sevugan, said in a statement. Nearly 75,000 people cast votes during four days of early caucus voting — almost as many Democrats who participated in Nevada’s 2016 caucuses.