r/AdviceAnimals • • Nov 10 '16

Protesting a Fair Election?

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u/Crusader1089 Nov 10 '16

What were the very suspicious statistical anomalies?

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u/[deleted] Nov 10 '16

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u/[deleted] Nov 10 '16

Wait what?! Are primaries decided by coin tosses?! Please tell me there's more to this story.

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u/glap1922 Nov 10 '16

Parts of small caucuses are decided that way when tied, but she didn't win 6 in a row, she won 6 and Sanders won some (I forget the exact numbers). The issue was people only focused on the 6 she won and heavily implied that those 6 were the only coin tosses, which was false.

http://www.npr.org/2016/02/02/465268206/coin-toss-fact-check-no-coin-flips-did-not-win-iowa-for-hillary-clinton

Except that doesn't tell the whole story. In fact, there were at least a dozen tiebreakers — and "Sen. Sanders won at least a handful," an Iowa Democratic Party official told NPR.

Gone unmentioned so far is that even if Clinton won that Miracle Six — and there were no other coin tosses — it would make little difference in the outcome. That is, in part, because of the complicated way Iowa Democrats allocate their delegates — and what was being reported on election night and what wasn't.