Stalin allegedly said the key to an election is not who votes, but who counts the votes. The story could be apocryphal, but the cynical observation about democracy is clear.

Of course, Stalin may not have considered another possibility – suppose no one counts the votes

Welcome to Iowa, 2020.

The much-anticipated Iowa caucuses for Democratic presidential candidates “ended” early Monday evening, but there were no results Monday night. Nor were there results early Tuesday morning, or for that matter, late Tuesday morning.

This is one thing, at least, that never seems to happen in New Jersey. There are always election disputes – and sometimes court challenges afterwards – but by and large we know the results by midnight on Election Day. Compared to what’s happening in the middle of the country, that’s a good thing.

People in Iowa and the Midwest in general have a reputation for friendliness and for being “nice people.” So, the good folk in the Iowa Democratic Party may not deserve to be ridiculed, but in this case, it’s unavoidable. They look like blithering fools.

We were told that the problem with tabulating results was because of a computer error – an app, in fact.

Of course, when in doubt, blame the computer.

All this made for “riveting” TV.  Those watching any of the three main cable news channels – CNN.

MSNBC and Fox – saw a different roster of commentators and in-house experts bemoan the lack of results and to say more than once – “Four years ago, we had 60 percent of the results by this time.” Statements from Iowa Democrats about the troubles were breathlessly read.

As for the candidates, they essentially claimed victory. That’s easy to do when no one knows what really happened.

Amy Klobuchar proclaimed that, “We are here and we are strong.”

Joe Biden talked about a long night ahead, but said, “We feel good about where we are.”

Bernie Sanders said – hopefully – that the results will be announced at some point, adding that the crazy Iowa adventure was “the beginning of the end for Donald Trump.”

One perhaps relevant nugget of information going forward was an exit poll that said 61 percent of voters based their choice on who “can beat Trump” as opposed to their ideological preference. If that sentiment holds among party loyalists nationwide, it would be good for the Dems.

As for Trump, his campaign and other Republicans snidely condemned the Democratic Party’s difficulty in counting votes, noting that the GOP caucuses went smoothly. Of course, counting votes is less of an issue when there’s only one genuine candidate.

Despite all the attention on Iowa today, this saga probably will amount to nothing. There are only 49 Democratic delegates from Iowa and only 41 are to be awarded through the caucus system. By the time the convention rolls around in July and the general election gets here in nine months, most average people will have forgotten what happened in Iowa on Feb. 3.

But those intimately involved with the political process should have better memories. And they should use this experience to review the silliness of having Iowa – a state very unrepresentative of the entire nation – play such a pivotal role in choosing nominees. This screw-up should prompt the powers-that-be to think about changing a system in which the Iowa caucuses kickoff the primary season.

Still, as we said, New Jersey can feel good about the fact it seems able to count votes. And besides, our primary comes so late in the game – June- that even if we mess up, it’s not going to make much of a difference anyway. Be grateful for that.