DES MOINES, Iowa ? In a surprise flip, Rick Santorum edged front-runner Mitt Romney by 34 votes in the final tally of the Iowa caucuses, Republican officials said Thursday. But no winner was declared because some votes remain uncertified two weeks after the event's closest contest ever.
The state party initially had declared Romney the victor ? by just 8 votes ? in the first voting for the Republican presidential nomination, based on the count the morning after the Jan. 3 caucuses.
Iowa Republican Chairman Matt Strawn announced the new, certified totals Thursday, but said the party would not name an official winner because the results were so close and some votes can't be counted. Results from 8 of the state's 1,774 precincts were not certified to the state party by Wednesday's 5 p.m. deadline.
Of the votes certified, however, Strawn said Santorum was the winner.
Unofficial election night results from the 8 precincts gave Santorum 81 votes and Romney 46. If those results had been certified, Santorum's lead in the final tally would have been 69 votes.
Santorum was quick to claim the Iowa victory, saying in a fundraising email that "the incredible news" makes the score for Romney and himself 1-1. Romney followed Iowa with a strong win in New Hampshire. The third contest, South Carolina's primary, is Saturday.
Romney called the Iowa results a "virtual tie." In a written statement, the former Massachusetts governor praised Santorum's "strong performance" in the state.
The certified results: Santorum with 29,839 votes and Romney at 29,805, a difference of 34. Ron Paul finished third with 26,036. Newt Gingrich finished fourth with 16,163 votes. Turnout for the caucuses was 121,503.
Strawn blamed the lack of certification on various problems, including a county chairman who went on vacation without mailing in the final documentation.
"It isn't an election that is run by state officials and that's one of the strengths of the caucus process," he said.
Four Lee County precincts are among those listed by the party as not turning in certified vote totals. Lee County GOP Chairman Don Lucas said he believes supporters of a candidate ? he's not sure which ? took the certification document to report to the candidate how they did and never brought it back.
One Franklin County precinct also was among the eight that weren't certified.
Rick Grote, a member of the Franklin County GOP central committee, was the site chair for seven precincts that met at a high school in Hampton. He said the chair for the Geneva/Reeve precinct apparently failed to send the form certifying the vote count to the state party.
But Grote said both he and his brother took pictures of the form, but were never contacted by the state party.
"I don't know why somebody didn't call me or talk to me about, `Hey, we're missing this E-form. Got any clues on what's going on?' At that point, I could have said, I took separate photos of it. My brother took separate photos of it. We could sign an affidavit saying we took pictures, these were the numbers," Grote said.
Strawn said the party had no choice but to stick by its system.
"You have to have one form that all county chairs and all precinct chairs knew well in advance that that was the record," he said. "We just can't vouch for someone saying those are the numbers absent proof of that."
Former Iowa Republican Chairman Richard Schwarm said the vote problems won't ultimately make a difference. He noted that actual delegates will be selected later in the spring as Republicans continue their convention process.
"I think people realize it's a tie," Schwarm said. "It's a straw poll that has no impact on how we pick delegates."
The Associated Press projected based on election night results that Romney would end up with 13 delegates and Santorum 12. With the release of the certified tally, the AP is withdrawing one delegate from Romney's projected total and leaving it unallocated.
"Our goal throughout the certification process was to most accurately reflect and report how Iowans voted on the evening of Jan. 3," said Strawn.
The new numbers could give a boost to Santorum and other candidates trying to undermine Romney's dominance over the field as South Carolina voters go to the polls, with the Florida primary next up.
The field narrowed further Thursday when Texas Gov. Rick Perry abandoned his presidential bid and endorsed Newt Gingrich, the former speaker of the House of Representatives.
Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator, and other Republican candidates are competing to attract voters seeking a more conservative alternative to Romney.
The Des Moines Register first reported the certified caucus totals on Thursday.
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Associated Press writer Ryan J. Foley in Iowa City contributed to this report.
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