Hillary Clinton won six separate coin tosses at multiple locations to win a handful of county-level delegates during Monday’s Iowa caucuses. The odds of winning six straight coin flips is 1/64.
As reported by MarketWatch, the official Democratic Party rules in Iowa call for a coin toss if the caucus results are deadlocked.
“In a case where two or more preference groups are tied for the loss of a delegate, a coin shall be tossed to determine who loses the delegate,” the rules read.
In Iowa on Monday, in at least six precincts, a coin toss was used to decide which candidate received a county delegate. Clinton won all six times.
According to the Des Moines Register, coin tosses were used when there was an odd number of delegates, including in Ames, Newton, West Branch, Davenport, and two locations in Des Moines.
The Register reports that the coin flips “had an extremely small effect on the overall outcome.”
“The delegates that were decided by coin flips were delegates to the party’s county conventions, of which there are thousands selected across the state from 1,681 separate precincts,” according to the Register. “They were not the statewide delegate equivalents that are reported in the final results.”
The coin toss rule is on the #IowaCaucus guide for Democratic precinct chairs pic.twitter.com/KQXRXaiLrx
— Fernando Peinado (@FernandoPeinado) February 2, 2016
WATCH THE COIN TOSSES:
Unbelievable coin toss decides a dead heat in west Davenport! @HillaryClinton wins! @chucktodd @CNBC @NBCNews pic.twitter.com/CtsvYJllBf
— Andrew Tadlock (@andytadlock) February 2, 2016
This is how the #IowaCaucus works. A tie is solved tossing a coin @HillaryClinton wins pic.twitter.com/yZDTUKFJXQ
— Fernando Peinado (@FernandoPeinado) February 2, 2016
Proof of a coin toss at Des Moines East High School. Landed heads and Hillary won the extra delegate. #IowaCaucus pic.twitter.com/Asrt4s8qJ7
— Sage Rosenfels (@SageRosenfels18) February 2, 2016