Janelle Irwin Taylor
Two tiny precincts in Reno Nevada awarded their sole delegates to candidates based on a simple draw of the cards, CNN reported Saturday night.
Ross Armstrong, a precinct chair at the two locations explained both locations had single votes for candidates with no candidate having a majority.
In one precinct, only two caucus goers participated. One supported former Vice President Joe Biden and the other former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg. Buttigieg won the delegate by an eight of spades draw compared to Biden’s seven of clubs.
In the other, only one caucus goer showed up, casting a vote for Buttigieg. Two early voters supported Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. A draw of cards declared Warren the winner with a jack of hearts. Sanders’ pull revealed a four of spades and Buttigieg’s a three of diamonds.
CNN reported that because the precincts were so small, the viability rule did not apply and therefore, the candidate with the most amount of votes would become the winner. But because there was no majority in either case, the small victories were declared by luck of the draw.
While Sanders did not come out on top in either of those two precincts, he was declared the decisive winner overall in Saturday’s Nevada caucus with Biden, Buttigieg and Warren trailing hoping to nab a second place finish.
Not all precincts had been counted when Sanders was declared the winner.
The results show continued momentum for Sanders who has emerged as the Democrat’s clear frontrunner for the Democratic nomination to take on President Donald Trump in the November election.
Sanders’ victory worries some establishment Democrats who worry Sanders’ is too far left to defeat Trump in a general election when his Democratic Socialist allegiance is almost certain to be used to rally the conservative base and even some moderate Democrats.
Sanders’ socialist homer has already come up in the Democratic primary with Buttigieg calling him such in the most recent debate Wednesday.
Still, Sanders supporters are bullish. They say failing to nominate Sanders will end in a repeat of 2016 when some voters either sat the election out, voted third party or voted for Trump.
