If the Iowa caucuses were a pop quiz on how well the nation is prepared for the 2020 elections, it looks like almost everyone failed. Or at least that they need to do a lot more remedial work.
The meltdown was extensive. A smartphone app purchased by the Iowa Democratic Party for precincts to use to report caucus votes didn’t work as planned. A backup hotline system also failed, leaving party officials scrambling on Tuesday to answer questions and produce results, as candidates and the public tried to figure out what was going on.
Some election watchers were not surprised.
Douglas Jones, a computer scientist at the University of Iowa, was one of many who have warned for weeks that maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to introduce a new technology at such a critical time — with the eyes of the nation on the first presidential voting of 2020.
“Caucus chairs in many cases apparently were attempting to download and install the app on their phones on caucus night. That’s extraordinarily difficult to do that kind of thing under pressure,” says Jones. “Downloading an app at the last minute is crazy.”