Nevada Democrats' Goal: Turn on iPads, Then Run Smooth Caucuses

[brooklynite]

New York Times

LAS VEGAS — On Page 31 of the Nevada Democratic Party’s caucus manual, there are step-by-step instructions for precinct leaders on how to begin entering and tabulating caucus results.

“Open iPad case.”

“Hold iPad horizontally.”

“Press the small round ‘home’ button on the side of the screen twice.”

“This brings you to your iPad home screen.”

Nevada Democratic officials are not taking anything for granted as Saturday’s caucuses approach, not after the catastrophe earlier this month in Iowa, where the results were delayed for days — in part because of a technological breakdown — and still remain under review.

Though past caucuses have run smoothly, and there is wide acknowledgment among Democrats that Nevada operates one of the best-run state parties in the country, the Iowa chaos has injected a heightened sense of jitters among officials here and the campaigns of the candidates who will compete here. That has led to a series of steps that state Democrats hope will forestall an Iowa-like meltdown.

Google — acutely aware that any failure of its product would be a high-profile disaster — has sent personnel to Las Vegas in case there are problems with the online spreadsheet application it provided to calculate caucus results. DigiDems, an incubator of technology talent for Democratic campaigns, also has officials and alumni on hand. The state party has recruited “tech volunteers” to be present at each caucus site to help precinct leaders operate the iPads.