Nevada isn’t the next context in what has become a horrendous start to the 2020 Democratic primary season, but they’re not wasting any time trashing the app that was used in Iowa that has caused the latest debacle. Yes, we don’t know the winner of the Iowa caucuses. We don’t even have preliminary numbers. We have no data after hours and this is due to a trashy app that was created by former Hillary Clinton operatives, which Leah covered this morning:
Tech firm Shadow, Inc., which created the technology for the Iowa caucuses that completely failed, is headed up by a number of former Hillary for America staffers.
On its website, the firm explains the team is composed of “campaign and technology veterans who have built and implemented technology at Hillary for America, Obama for America, Google, Kiva, Apple, the AFL-CIO, and the DNC.”
There were reports of security concerns prior to the caucuses as well (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.
There wasn’t a hack, but the reporting system is totally screwed. At 5 P.M., we’re supposed to get a majority of the data—whatever that means. It’s a total fiasco. And Nevada doesn’t want any part of it after New Hampshire. They’re throwing Shadow, Inc. in the trash (via NBC News):
Nevada’s Democratic Party said Tuesday it will not use the trouble-plagued app that has contributed to ongoing delays in the reporting of results in the Iowa Democratic caucuses.
Democrats in Nevada had planned to use the app for their caucus on Feb. 22. The same company developed the app for both states.
But the state’s Democratic Party said Tuesday that it had previously created backup plans for its reporting systems and was in the process of “evaluating the best path forward.”
"NV Dems can confidently say that what happened in the Iowa caucus last night will not happen in Nevada on February 22nd. We will not be employing the same app or vendor used in the Iowa caucus,” Nevada State Democratic Party Chair William McCurdy II said in a statement.
“We had already developed a series of backups and redundant reporting systems, and are currently evaluating the best path forward,” he added.
Thus far, the Left’s 2020 election season got off to a disastrous start. Bernie Sanders probably won this contest, and he will definitely win New Hampshire next week. After Nevada, we should see some more folks drop out. While Iowa isn’t a good indicator for the general election, it is a good gauge for who will be the Democratic nominee. Since 1976, 70 percent of the Iowa caucuses winners have become the eventual nominee. Yet, if Democrats can’t handle a caucus, how will they handle the health care of 300+ million Americans regarding their Medicare for All boondoggle.
