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Iowa Democratic caucuses results on hold, smartphone app fails: What we know ❓❓ Interesting...
With the threat of election result interference looming, the Iowa Democratic Party took steps to make Monday's caucuses more technologically secure with results that were robust.
Party officials even decided there was an app for that.
Unfortunately, there were issues with the app and instead of Democrats turning their focus toward the New Hampshire primary, to be held Feb. 11, there were still no returns Tuesday morning from Iowa.
The chaos is expected to have repercussions in the short term for the candidates who aren't sure yet how they performed, and in the long term for the Iowa caucus process itself.
"I’d say there is going to be a real movement to change the order of primaries. I really do believe it and I never believed it before," Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics, told the Des Moines Register.
What's this about an app used in the Iowa caucuses?
The Iowa Democratic Party, which had originally considered a virtual caucus, in which voters did not physically have to show up to be counted, opted to create a smartphone app to help caucus managers tabulate and transmit results – the end result being to get results released more quickly to the public.
The decision was set in motion before we learned about a "sweeping and systematic" Russian effort to undermine the presidential election process in 2016.
The Iowa Democratic Party has said the app was tested by an independent third party, but did not release too much information about it. That's because top cybersecurity experts said releasing too much information about the app could result in the developer being targeted
But that strategy opened the door for potential misuse of misinformation Ashlee Benge, threat researcher for Baltimore-headquartered cybersecurity firm ZeroFox. "This confusion could be exploited by candidates or others with an interest in a particular candidate, in order to perpetuate misinformation about a candidate's success or lack thereof," she told USA TODAY. "This could ultimately be used to influence voter opinion in future votes and potentially sway election results."
'It was a total mess':Caucusing is long over, but Iowa still doesn't have a winner
Iowa caucuses:We don't know yet who won the Iowa caucuses. But here's what we do know.
So what was the issue?
Early in the evening, party officials began reporting that some precinct officials could not log into the app. One issue apparently was confusion with PIN numbers, reported KCRG, a Cedar Rapids, Iowa, ABC television station.
Precinct chairwoman Ruth Thompson told KCRG that organizers had problems trying to download and test the app. "We came to a consensus not to use it," said Thompson, who chaired a precinct at Lincoln High School in Des Moines.
Emily Duff, who volunteered as a captain for Bernie Sanders' campaign Monday night, expressed concerns about the app before her caucus. Duff's precinct in the gym at Hoover High School in Des Moines wound up reporting results manually, she said.
"People were having issues, so they ditched the app," she said.
Precinct chairs did not have to use the app but could also tabulate results manually – a paper trail is included as a planned redundancy in the system – and call them into a hotline. But telephones were jammed, too.
"We understand that caucus chairs are attempting to – and, in many cases, failing to – report results telephonically to the party. These acute failures are occurring statewide,"
wrote Dana Remus, general counsel for Biden for President, in a letter to the Iowa Democratic Party executive director Kevin Geiken and chairman Troy Price late Monday, saying the party's new app and its backup phone hotline failed
https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2020/02/04/iowa-democratic-caucus-results-still-not-in-hampered-app-issues/4653468002/
To me the app smells fishy. I would never trust voting on a app..until they know about it more.....who it was done by..
This app was tested by The Iowa Democratic Party has said the app was tested by an independent third party,,my opinion
If I were to vote in a presidentialprimary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
= new reply since forum marked as read
If I were to vote in a presidentialprimary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
If I were to vote in a presidentialprimary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
If I were to vote in a presidentialprimary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
If I were to vote in a presidentialprimary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
If I were to vote in a presidentialprimary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
If I were to vote in a presidentialprimary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden