This whole Iowa mess leads me to one word: Russia.

[calimary]

That’s the first thing I thought.

If it’s electronic, the Russians and their bots and their hackers and all the rest of it - can fuck with it. And as of now, maybe it doesn’t even stop with the Russians.

Thank God they had paper ballots as backup. But paper ballots should have been IT. First, last, and ONLY.

That’s just my own opinion. I’d love YOUR take on this.

[Rider3]

1. I'll agree with that

and I'm sure we'll see a lot more questionable things in the coming future, all of which will point to Russia.

[sandensea]

2. Thank you! To think someone almost had a post expressing this suspicion hidden last night

We can't be sure, yes - but does anyone seriously doubt it?

[ProudMNDemocrat]

3. I said to my husband this morning.....RUSSIA?

He did not say it wasn't impossible.

Paper ballots cannot be hacked. Here in Minnesota, we had paper preference ballots at Caucus sites for US Senator, Governor, and President. No confusion. Caucus Chair certified the totals after 2 tellers counted votes to report to the Precinct Captains, then to the state Party.

This year we still Caucus for issues to amend to our State Party and Constitution. A week later, we have a Presidential Primary where everyone who is registered in the state votes.

[CentralMass]

4. This was self inflicted.

[defacto7]

5. Paper backups of a failed app... does that make sense?

Not to me.

[2naSalit]

9. Paper count unattached to the ap is what I think they mean...

to which I would agree.

[defacto7]

13. But is the app the origin of the data or are they voting on app and off separately?

If the app is the only source of a vote then the logic disintegrates.

[2naSalit]

16. I read that there

were separate cards each voter had to record their preferences. Not sure what happens afterward but it sounds like there is a separate tally on paper somehow. I would hope that the tallies were also recorded separately on paper along with entering it into the app. The other thing, if the app wasn't even a factor due to precinct capts inability to download or sign in to the app in the first place, they would have had to write the numbers down otherwise they would have been shirking their responsibilities. I think the folks on the ground were sincere, it's the electronics that are a major mistake.

[defacto7]

19. I'm sure they had the best intentions.

Computer science is above the heads of most supposed experts. That's why we shouldn't trust it for something this important... to everything.

[BigOleDummy]

6. Agreed

When I first heard of this my first thought was Russia also. It appears their bots on Twitter are already in full swing over this too.... something just doesn't smell right. Not enough testing? Wtf? With KNOWING that the whole country would be watching and waiting for these results they couldn't be bothered to test this new "app" every which way from the start to the end?

I think paper ballots should be ALL there is as far as voting for State and Federal elections myself. No way can you hack those. Lose em.... maybe...... but anyone with ANY experience with either the web OR just plain old computers knows how fragile they can be security-wise.

[OneMoreCupOfCoffee]

7. No.

[madibella]

8. Something's not right about this whole thing.

And it's not like it hasn't happened before or that there were/are attempts to cheat in the fall. I trust nothing and feel very uneasy about last night and really the week or so leading up to it as far as polls.

Something is up.

[Recursion]

10. I don't think it was hacked but they certainly are managing the response

The Iowa party hacked itself by thinking they could get a functional app with these requirements for $50K.

Russia is, however, happy to stir the conspiracy stories that are cropping up.

[denem]

15. No need to hack the app.

A DDoS would suffice, and is consistent with the little that we know.

[LeftInTX]

11. I think the app was not official results.

The app was probably for the media report, so candidates could get quick preliminary results and have their victory speeches. It's about momentum for the party. Of course those results can change, but the primaries are about delegate allocation, and delegates are allocated in the Dem Party proportionality (not winner take all).

[2naSalit]

12. I plan to watch STOU tonight because I think

that if there was meddling, idiot45 will let slip that there was. He can't help but gloat about fucking someone over, it's what he lives for and the more the better.

As Speaker Pelosi said, "All roads lead to putin with you."

[Autumn]

14. They used a new app that had not been tested as it should have been.

I don't know about you but my cell service in a lot of buildings really sucks.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1287473373



App Used to Tabulate Votes Is Said to Have Been Inadequately Tested


The app was quickly put together in the past two months and was not properly tested at a statewide scale, according to people briefed on the matter.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/03/us/politics/iowa-caucus-app.html

The app used by the Iowa Democratic Party was built by Shadow Inc., a for-profit technology company that is also used by the Nevada Democratic Party, the next state to hold a caucus, as well as by multiple presidential campaigns. Shadow’s involvement was kept a secret by Democratic officials through the caucuses.

An official from Shadow did not respond to requests for comment, but one of the company’s investors, Acronym, a progressive nonprofit company, released a statement saying that Acronym was a separate entity from Shadow and that it was still waiting to hear from the Iowa Democratic Party “with respect to what happened.”

Matt Blaze, a professor of computer science and law at Georgetown, said that introducing apps in the midst of an election posed many problems. Any type of app or program that relies on using a cellphone network to deliver results is vulnerable to problems both on the app and on the phones being used to run it, he said.

“The consensus of all experts who have been thinking about this is unequivocal,” Mr. Blaze added. “Internet and mobile voting should not be used at this time in civil elections.”

[Kentonio]

17. I think Hanlon's Razor is appropriate here.

[Hoyt]

18. Unfortunately, it appears we did this to ourselves. It's embarrassing.

[LAS14]

20. Maybe in a few decades, the IT industry will be mature enough to understand that...

... you can't just declare that some software will be done be a particular time. If you do there's every probability that adequate testing will not be done. Look at the website for the ACA at the launch.

[jmg257]

21. I think you mean 3 words...Russia Russia Russia!

When in actuality..

"We have every indication that our systems were secure...

While the app was recording data properly, it was reporting out only partial data.
We have determined that was due to a coding issue...the issue was identified and fixed..."

Link to tweet

And who made the error?

The firm behind the app reportedly is Shadow, an affiliate of ACRONYM, a Democratic nonprofit founded in 2017 “to educate, inspire, register, and mobilize voters,” according to its website. Shadow started out as Groundbase, a tech developer co-founded by Gerard Niemira and Krista Davis, who worked for the tech team on Clinton’s campaign for the 2016 Democratic nomination.

They fucked up - not everything is the f&*%$ Russians!