The Democrat primary results for Washington, the night’s second-biggest prize, remained at a virtual standstill into Wednesday morning as results continued to show Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Joe Biden (D) in a dead heat.
The former vice president experienced a blowout night on Tuesday, taking Missouri, Mississippi, and the biggest prize, Michigan. The Associated Press called North Dakota, which offers just 14 delegates, for Sanders on Wednesday morning, but as of 10:30 a.m. EST, the race in Washington, which offers 89 delegates, had yet to be called. In fact, the needle hardly moved overnight.
The New York Times had Sanders edging out Biden 32.8 percent to 32.6 percent with 67 percent of precincts reporting as of 11:24 p.m. ET:
With 67% of precincts reporting, here’s who’s leading the Washington Democratic presidential primary.
Follow more live results as we get them. https://t.co/vVUp9HWV5b pic.twitter.com/KqWj1SucYJ
— The New York Times (@nytimes) March 11, 2020
I know there is probably a good reason, & it's probably right out there on the Web somewhere, but anyone know why the Washington State results are still stuck at 67% precincts reporting, with no winner, same numbers as at 11 pm yesterday?
— Gene Weingarten (@geneweingarten) March 11, 2020
Hours later, well into Wednesday morning, media outlets continued to show 67 percent of precincts reporting in the state, renewing suspicions of foul play given the tight status of the race.
“Why is it that the states that Bernie sanders is seemingly leading in always take so much time to release the results compared to the one Biden wins in,” one Twitter user asked. “It’s Washington and North Dakota this time, last time it was al the states Bernie won! Is the DNC this corrupt?”
“Holy smokes I just realized for some reason, idk why, but every time Bernie is winning a state they stop reporting more results lol,” another observed.
“So Bernie Sanders is leading in Washington and North Dakota and of course, the counting of the votes has suddenly stopped. Why is it that every state he is doing well in can’t report their results?” one asked.
“The only way Washington goes to Biden is if the machines are rigged AGAIN as they have been state after state,” another remarked.
Many say the full results will take days to come in, given the state’s vote-by-mail status:
The polls are closed in Washington, and this is going to be another slow, long mail count like we've seen in the other Western states.
— Nate Cohn (@Nate_Cohn) March 11, 2020
Sanders overwhelmingly took Washington in 2016, 72.7 percent to 27.1 percent. That came at a time Democrats held precinct caucuses in the state.
The Vermont senator continued to lead Biden by less than half of a percentage point in Washington as of 10:30 a.m. EST.
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