We’re still waiting on preliminary results for the Iowa caucuses. We’ve been waiting for hours. And now we have reports of the Iowa Democratic Party doing a “quality control” review of the results “out of an abundance of caution.” First, The Des Moines Register poll was deep-sixed, though its results were later leaked showing Bernie Sanders at the top of the heap. Reportedly, the Pete Buttigieg campaign voiced a complaint about the survey. And now, we’re holding up preliminary results because of some technical issues. Oh, and once again, Bernie Sanders supporters appear to be getting the short end of the stick at some of these precincts.
I’m at First Presbyterian Church in Des Moines. When I came here in 2016, Hillary won easily. Eyeballing it this time it looks like Bernie will crush Biden. People still arriving though. Will update when I have hard numbers.
— Philip Klein (@philipaklein) February 4, 2020
This Des Moines location has 86 people. In 2016 it had 138 and in 2008 it had 160. Viability threshold is set at 13.
— Philip Klein (@philipaklein) February 4, 2020
Initially, it didn’t look like Biden would be viable here, but he gained supporters from Bennet and Steyer, so should make it. Still awaiting first alignment totals.
— Philip Klein (@philipaklein) February 4, 2020
Wow — another twist. Sanders won this precinct by 20 points but now 5 candidates will get 1 delegate each — Biden team amassed extra delegates, and then siphoned them to Klo & Warren. Bernie supporters are pissed “This is a joke.. waste of time.” Stormed out.
— Philip Klein (@philipaklein) February 4, 2020
Wow — another twist. Sanders won this precinct by 20 points but now 5 candidates will get 1 delegate each — Biden team amassed extra delegates, and then siphoned them to Klo & Warren. Bernie supporters are pissed “This is a joke.. waste of time.” Stormed out.
— Philip Klein (@philipaklein) February 4, 2020
Even New York Times' Nate Cohn said that the "quality control" review raises eyebrows.
In doing the "needle," I had to go through the steps of trying to actually formally spell out how you do an Iowa caucus.
— Nate Cohn (@Nate_Cohn) February 4, 2020
And I have to tell you, it was way harder than I thought. These rules are complicated.
I point this out because there are ordinary people out there trying to make sense of these rules in running these caucuses. And I like to think I have an above-average shot at figuring it out, and we still had to ask questions of the Iowa Democratic Party
— Nate Cohn (@Nate_Cohn) February 4, 2020
With that in mind, the Iowa Democratic Party saying "quality control" definitely raises my eyebrows. This year, they're getting all the results for the first time.
— Nate Cohn (@Nate_Cohn) February 4, 2020
And I wonder whether they're finding out that people just aren't doing this right a lot more often than they thought
By this time, nearly 80 percent of the total vote was counted in the Iowa Democratic caucus in 2016, at least based on the data we have saved from last time.
— Nate Cohn (@Nate_Cohn) February 4, 2020
President Trump’s campaign manager Brad Parscale tweeted what some are thinking, especially in the Sanders camp: “quality control = rigging?
Quality control = rigged? ?? https://t.co/rJY3gdRccE
— Brad Parscale - Text TRUMP to 88022 (@parscale) February 4, 2020
We have no data, folks. This is mind-boggling. And it could be due to the fact that the app the Iowa Democratic Party is using was reported to have some serious security issues (via WSJ):
Democrats will record the votes from the Iowa presidential caucuses in just over a week using a smartphone app, a procedure that has stirred questions about security.
Party leaders said that the mobile app would make it easier and faster to report results from some 1,700 caucus sites. But critics expressed concern about the reliability of the app amid warnings that cyber adversaries could seek to disrupt the 2020 elections.
Douglas Jones, an associate professor of computer science at the University of Iowa, who has studied election security, called the idea a “security nightmare,” and said that cellphones were difficult to protect against the range of possible threats.
The caucus workers will use the app on their personal smartphones, which Mr. Jones said could be vulnerable, depending on how well the workers take care of their devices.
Iowa Democratic Party Chairman Troy Price defended the plan. “We are confident in the security systems we have in place,” he said.
I'm hearing Iowa Dem party partnered with group led by Robby Mook (Hillary's campaign manager) to develop strategies and systems to use tonight.
— Comfortably Smug (@ComfortablySmug) February 4, 2020
Can't make this shit up
There is technical issue with Iowa results reporting. Hearing from multiple campaigns that the Iowa Democratic Party is sending a tech staffer to the shared boiler room in Des Moines, where the campaigns have staff headquartered, to brief them momentarily on what’s going on.
— Ruby Cramer (@rubycramer) February 4, 2020
There are now reports that the app that caucus leaders are using to report Iowa results isn't working. Nobody knows who owns the app and there were major security concerns: https://t.co/l6bfvyOSpT
— Scott Stedman (@ScottMStedman) February 4, 2020
Having precinct captains use an unfamiliar app to report results failed in 2008. It failed in 2012. And it failed in 2020.
— Patrick Ruffini (@PatrickRuffini) February 4, 2020
Iowa Democratic Party releases their official statement:
Just in: Our first official statement from the Iowa Democratic Party.
— Alex Seitz-Wald (@aseitzwald) February 4, 2020
The big news here is TURNOUT. They say it's on pace for 2016, which is LOW. 172,000 turned out in then, down from the record-high of 240,000 in 2008. pic.twitter.com/MXGBKO64gc
CNN panel on Iowa caucuses: 'this is starting to look like a debacle'
CNN got the caucus secretary from the precinct on the phone for an interview. He was on hold for over an hour, waiting to report his results. During the interview, someone picked up, but because he was talking to Wolf Blitzer, he was hung up on. Unreal. pic.twitter.com/DZoLSpjZto
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) February 4, 2020
NBC hot mic captures "OMG, what a disaster" as they talk about canditates pic.twitter.com/IWfZsIOHPc
— Wojciech Pawelczyk (@PolishPatriotTM) February 4, 2020
Iowa Democratic Party says this disastrous night is centered on a reporting issue. The app is not the issue, nor was the contest hacked. What a night.
New Iowa Democratic Party statement:
— Domenico Montanaro (@DomenicoNPR) February 4, 2020
"This is simply a reporting issue, the app did not go down and this is not a hack or an intrusion." pic.twitter.com/XCSGDAeeFx
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