Matt Strawn

The chairman of the Iowa Republican Party is stepping down after being criticized for the way the “certified” results of the Iowa Caucuses were handled. 

Matt Strawn released a video statement this morning.

Strawn announced on Caucus Night that Mitt Romney was the winner of the 2012 Iowa Caucuses, by an eight-vote margin. Two weeks later, the “certified” results compiled from paperwork sent to party headquarters indicated Rick Santorum finished 34 votes ahead of Romney, but Strawn originally said he “couldn’t speculate” as to which candidate won the Caucuses. Several hours later, after Santorum’s supporters cried foul, the Iowa GOP chairman declared Santorum the winner.

Governor Branstad last week called those “minor mistakes” and the governor said Strawn had done a “reasonable job” as party chairman.

Strawn’s last day as party chairman will be Friday, February 10th. In his video message, Strawn talked about helping to “usher in an era” for GOP dominance in Iowa.

“Over the past three-plus years we have succeeded beyond our wildest dreams,” Strawn said. “We witnesses sweeping Republican electoral victories at all levels. We saw an explosion of new Republican voters with an unprecedented 34 consecutive months of Iowa GOP voter registration gains. We kept the Iowa Caucuses first-in-the-nation. We broke fundraising records.”

Strawn also touted the three, nationally-televised Republican presidential candidate debates the party co-hosted in 2011.

“Simply put, your Iowa GOP is dramatically better off than it was four years ago,” Strawn said. “Your Iowa GOP is a relevant force again in Iowa politics.”

Strawn, an attorney from Ankeny who is part-owner of the Iowa Barnstormers, has been the Iowa GOP’s chairman since January of 2009.   

“While the election wins, fundraising successes and media appearances are the aspects of being chairman that probably gained the most attention,” Strawn said, “the most rewarding aspect of my service was the opportunity to travel our great state and get to know you, the people of Iowa.”

It’s unclear what Stawn’s next move may be. In his video address Strawn mentioned giving the “competing priorities” in his personal and business endeavors “the attention they deserve.”

(This story was updated at 10:12 a.m.)

Four of the eight precincts missing from the final Iowa Caucus night vote tally came from one county in southeast Iowa.

“Basically we’re making world news and stuff like this over four sheets of paper in Lee County,” Don Lucas, chairman of the Lee County GOP, said today during an interview with a radio station in Mount Pleasant, Iowa.

During another interview with a Burlington, Iowa, radio station, Lucas said he has no idea what happened with the forms from two of the precincts. In the other two, the people who acted as precinct captains on Caucus Night “refused to sign any paperwork.”

“I sent those forms in, not filled out,” Lucas said. “I supposed I should have filled them out.”

According to party rules, the forms were to be completed on Caucus Night, however. Lucas says it’s been a frustrating experience because he wrote down the vote tallies from those precincts that were telephoned in on Caucus Night and has a computer print-out to verify the numbers.

“The state (party) wants to push it on us like it’s neglect from the counties that their precincts, you know, had mistakes,” Lucas told KBUR Radio. “If the state (party) would work with us, I have the totals right in front of me. I do not have the E forms.”

A Form “E” from each of Iowa’s 1774 precincts was to be sent to Iowa Republican Party headquarters in Des Moines by the close of business this Wednesday and used to “certify” the results of the Caucuses. Lucas, a backer of Mitt Romney, is no fan of having Rick Santorum declared the winner of the Caucuses.

“Romney fairly and squarely won the state of Iowa by eight votes,” Lucas said. “But when they recounted all their papers and stuff like this and stuff like that, they’re saying now he lost by 34.”

Lucas suggested party officials at the state level should be more concerned about electing Republicans in Iowa and less concerned about the “hype” of choosing a president.

“What they’re doing is destroying the grassroots purpose of the Caucuses,” Lucas told KILJ Radio. “What basically the purpose of the Caucuses is to select leadership in the precincts and counties for the next two years, elect county delegates that work on the platform — on the statement of the party — and stuff like that.”

Another missing precinct was in Mason City and that county’s GOP chair told a local reporter he didn’t know anything about the missing form. The three other missing precincts are in the Hampton area, in Estherville and in Pocahontas County. The chairman of the Iowa GOP this afternoon said some of the local officials involved did not respond to telephone calls.

(Additional reporting in Burlington by Michael Cation of KBUR & in Mount Pleasant by Theresa Rose of KILJ)

The chairman of the Iowa Republican Party is now declaring Rick Santorum the winner of the 2012 Iowa Caucuses. In a written statement released this morning along with the final “certified” Caucus results, Iowa GOP chairman Matt Strawn congratulated both Santorum and Mitt Romney, but did not refer to Santorum as the winner.

“I am clarifying for anyone that didn’t understand the statement that was put out by the party this morning,” Strawn said this afternoon.

Strawn yesterday told a reporter for The Des Moines Register that he “couldn’t speculate” as to who won the Caucuses. In this morning’s written statement, Strawn called the race “the closest contest in caucus history” and stressed that the goal of party leaders was to “accurately” report the vote totals.

“We thought the numbers spoke for themselves,” Strawn said.

The numbers showed Santorum finished 34 votes ahead of Romney, but the “certified” vote totals from eight precincts were not included in the tally and will never be reported. The proper forms from those precincts were not submitted to party headquarters by Wednesday’s deadline.

“I want to complement the efforts of my staff and the thousands of volunteers that did a great job helping the Iowa Caucuses run and you have to remember it is an entirely volunteer-driven activity,” Strawn said. “We have done everything in our power to try and get every precinct to comply with the 14-day certification period and there were eight that, you know, weren’t able to.”

Strawn said some precinct captains told the party they lost the proper forms. A couple failed to respond to calls from party headquarters, according to Strawn.

“But I will tell you that the party going into this caucus season did four times the amount of county trainings that had been done prior,” Strawn said. “Any county, irrespective of size or geographic location, that requested a training, we sent a member of our five-person staff there to conduct that training and walk them through the responsibilities of being a county leader or a precinct chair and to an overwhelming degree, you know, Iowans responded.”

Strawn also pointed to the record turn-out and the fact that only eight out of 1774 precincts failed to be counted.

“I don’t want the efforts of thousands of Iowa Republicans to be tarnished by a few precincts that did not comply with the requirements,” Strawn said.

According to Strawn, Santorum’s finish is evidence that it doesn’t require the biggest campaign account to win Iowa’s Caucuses.