WaPo: Campaigns warn of chaos ahead of the Nevada caucuses

[Mike 03]

Feb. 16, 2020 at 6:16 p.m. MST

LAS VEGAS — With the Nevada caucuses days away, campaign officials and Democratic activists are increasingly alarmed that they might prove a debacle as damaging as the vote in Iowa, further setting back the party in its urgent effort to coalesce around a nominee to take on President Trump.

Campaigns said they still have not gotten the party to offer even a basic explanation of how key parts of the process will work. Volunteers are reporting problems with the technology that’s been deployed at the last minute to make the vote count smoother. And experts are raising serious questions about a tool the party has been feverishly assembling to replace the one scrapped after the meltdown in Iowa.

“It feels like the [state party is] making it up as they go along,” said one Democratic presidential aide, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the process. “That’s not how we need to be running an election.”

Adding to the challenge is the complexity of Nevada’s caucuses. Unlike in Iowa, where caucuses are conducted in one evening, Nevadans have the option of voting early. At sites across the state, Democrats can rank their top presidential choices on a paper ballot.

On Saturday, caucus day, Democrats can gather at one of about 2,000 sites to vote for their preferred candidate. If their first choice doesn’t get enough backing, voters can throw their support behind someone else, a second round of voting known as “final alignment.” Early voting preferences will be treated the same way, as though the voter were attending in person.

The party had planned to use two specially designed apps for reporting results, developed by political technology firm Shadow, the same company that designed the vote-recording app blamed for the chaos in Iowa. A coding error in the Iowa app made it impossible to tally results, prompting confusion and delays. Shortly after, Nevada Democrats announced they were scrapping the Shadow products.

snip

But several campaigns complained that those interactions seemed designed to avoid questions. Last Monday, multiple aides from different campaigns said they were given just minutes’ notice for an evening conference call announcing a key decision about early voting. The call was so sudden that one top campaign aide, in the middle of a caucus training for volunteers, was unable to join.

On Thursday, when the party released an update on early voting, several campaigns said they learned of the memo from reporters before they received it from the party.

“We have been learning more about this process from the media than the state party or the DNC,” said a Democratic aide, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity.

More at link: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/campaigns-warn-of-chaos-ahead-of-the-nevada-caucuses/2020/02/16/ef78ef52-50c8-11ea-929a-64efa7482a77_story.html

[htuttle]

1. THEY. DON'T. NEED. AN. APP!

There are mass-market, quite secure, products -- that do what this app seems to do -- already available for very little cost.

An example:

Google Forms
https://www.google.com/forms/about/

There are probably at least a dozen other products available that can do the same thing, just as securely. And they don't tend to crash. Ever.


*(professional programmer, 25 years experience)

[PatrickforO]

2. Well, I'm not a programmer, but I sure do agree with you.

We do not always need an app for everything.

[Laelth]

3. I read somewhere yesterday that they ARE, in fact, using Google Forms.

As I understand it, the state party bought new laptops with a browser that was pre-set with a link to Google Forms. Caucus staffers are still panicked due to lack of training, new caucus rules, and lack of "notice" of rule changes from the state party. This seems likely to be a mess.

-Laelth

[htuttle]

5. Then they should be better off than Iowa. at least

Still, this stuff needs to be figured out much earlier...

[Laelth]

6. Iowa is what put them in disarray.

They were planning to use the party's caucus app, but the Iowa debacle forced them to quickly change course. What we're seeing now is angst over their hastily-assembled Plan B voting and reporting system.

-Laelth

[CentralMass]

4. I have a gut instinct that this is going to be another cluster f. K.

[2naSalit]

7. I do too.

Perhaps we need someone other than Perez in the leadership role? I plan to make copies of my ballots before sending them in but I'm not too worried about my state's elections yet.

[CentralMass]

8. The state party leadership needs be looked at.

[2naSalit]

9. I have to agree.

Now that I think about it, this election cycle we have an R (Sec of State in MT is an elected post) running the election and he's running for another office.

We do need to go through every role in our elections including party officials.