--- title: Iowa Democratic Caucuses Used Coin Tosses to Find a Winner description: Several of Iowa's Democratic precincts used a coin toss to determine a winner, illustrating the historically close Democratic matchup canonical: https://time.com/4204049/iowa-caucus-coin-toss-hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-02-02T15:23:42.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:00:29.333Z article:section: Politics og:title: Some Iowa Precincts Flipped a Coin to Determine Democratic Winner og:description: Hillary Clinton won the coin toss in each instance og:url: https://time.com/4204049/iowa-caucus-coin-toss-hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt41bac639d4a8289f/69887bbcab6d7715066a83c3/bernie-sanders1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Democratic Presidential Candidate Bernie Sanders Holds Iowa Caucus Night Gathering og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Some Iowa Precincts Flipped a Coin to Determine Democratic Winner twitter:description: Hillary Clinton won the coin toss in each instance twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt41bac639d4a8289f/69887bbcab6d7715066a83c3/bernie-sanders1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Some Iowa Caucus Precincts Flipped a Coin to Determine the Democratic Winner  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Feb 2, 2016 3:23 PM UTC  Bernie Sanders speaks to supporters during a caucus night party Feb. 1, 2016 in Des Moines, Iowa. Bernie Sanders speaks to supporters during a caucus night party Feb. 1, 2016 in Des Moines, Iowa.Alex Wong—Getty Images  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Feb 2, 2016 3:23 PM UTC Several of Iowa’s Democratic precincts [flipped a coin to determine a winner](http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/elections/presidential/caucus/2016/02/02/sometimes-iowa-democrats-award-caucus-delegates-coin-flip/79680342/) on Monday, illustrating the complicated nature of caucus rules and the historically close matchup between Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. Clinton was [named the Democratic winner of the Iowa caucuses](http://time.com/4203862/iowa-caucuses-hillary-clinton-win/) on Tuesday morning, winning 49.9% of the vote compared to Sanders’ 49.6%. At least five coin tosses were held at precincts across the state on Monday, and in each instance, Clinton won, according to the [Des Moines _Register_](http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/elections/presidential/caucus/2016/02/02/sometimes-iowa-democrats-award-caucus-delegates-coin-flip/79680342/).  Iowa Caucus results 2016 A coin toss is required to break a tie in certain instances, according to caucus rules. “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 [Iowa caucus guide](https://twitter.com/FernandoPeinado/status/694353227274330113/photo/1?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw) states. > [](https://twitter.com/FernandoPeinado/status/694345745420320768) > [](https://twitter.com/SageRosenfels18/status/694395728995622912) > [](https://twitter.com/andytadlock/status/694340486908088320) > [](https://twitter.com/tripgabriel/status/694375261513469952) > [](https://twitter.com/JLaBua/status/694383966233587712) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4204049/iowa-caucus-coin-toss-hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4204049/iowa-caucus-coin-toss-hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders/"},"headline":"Some Iowa Caucus Precincts Flipped a Coin to Determine the Democratic Winner","datePublished":"2016-02-02T15:23:42.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:00:29.333Z","description":"Hillary Clinton won the coin toss in each instance","url":"https://time.com/4204049/iowa-caucus-coin-toss-hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election topic"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt41bac639d4a8289f/69887bbcab6d7715066a83c3/bernie-sanders1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt41bac639d4a8289f/69887bbcab6d7715066a83c3/bernie-sanders1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Democratic Presidential Candidate Bernie Sanders Holds Iowa Caucus Night Gathering","caption":"Democratic Presidential Candidate Bernie Sanders Holds Iowa Caucus Night Gathering","creditText":"Alex Wong—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4204049/iowa-caucus-coin-toss-hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders/","name":"Some Iowa Caucus Precincts Flipped a Coin to Determine the Democratic Winner"}}]}] ```