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On 1 February 2016, the state of Iowa held the caucuses heralded as marking the public start of the presidential nomination cycle. While the caucus results were well-covered in the news media, a number of coin toss decisions between Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders generated a large amount of interest in the state's unique political proceedings. We received a number of e-mails from readers questioning whether it was true that Iowa caucus results sometimes hinge on a coin toss. A 25 December 2007 NPR article similarly essayed a number of Iowa's unusual caucus practices, among which was the circumstance of a coin toss decision, an aspect also mentioned in a 2008 New York Times article: A 4 January 2016 Huffington Post article also described a unique — and bizarre — political spectacle in Iowa during primary season, nothing that under extremely rare circumstances a coin toss could determine to which candidate delegates are assigned: Prior to this, the coin flip provision of Iowa's caucuses was rarely discussed and not considered an integral aspect of the political event. But late on 1 February 2016, caucus results indicated what many described as a dead heat or virtual tie between Democrat contenders Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. Subsequently, reports suggested that Clinton had won six out of six (or six out of seven) reported coin tosses, a supposed statistical improbability by which she managed a narrow victory over Sanders: On 2 February 2016, the Des Moines Register reported that of six known coin tosses that had taken place the night before, Clinton won the toss in all of them: Social media was awash in reports of Clinton's lucky coin toss winning streak as the Iowa caucuses came to a close, with the Atlantic originally reporting that Hillary Clinton's campaign improbably won six of seven coin tosses: On the afternoon of 2 February 2016, however, that article was updated with conflicting information suggesting that Sanders (not Clinton) had won an unexpectedly large proportion of coin tosses: As of 2 February 2016, we were unable to locate any information supporting that app-gleaned data supported either claim: that Sanders won nearly all the coin tosses, or that Clinton was almost entirely favored by the random flips. In a separate statement posted by Lau and attributed to Iowa Democratic Party (IDP) chair Andy McGuire, the IDP didn't address the coin tosses in their discussion of the historically tight caucus outcomes: A number of media and social media accounts indicated that approximately six (or seven) coins were flipped during the Iowa caucuses in 2016. Clinton was reported as the winner of at least six tosses by outlets such as the local Des Moines Register, and social media users similarly reported outcomes favoring Clinton. The IDP's Sam Lau stated the opposite, claiming Sanders (not Clinton) won most coin flips. The Des Moines Register published an article on the afternoon of 2 February 2016 stating that, due to reporting procedures, the actual number of coin flips that took place (and which side won them) was an unknown; the only seeming certainty was that at least seven coin flips took place A Des Moines Register editorial subsequently called for an audit of the caucus results, to include the providing of a list of each precinct coin flip and its outcome:
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