WaPo: Campaigns warn of chaos ahead of the Nevada caucuses [View all]

[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.

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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