The Nevada Democratic Party is apparently trying to avoid the caucus reporting issues that plagued the Iowa caucus earlier this month.
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This story is part of Elections 2020, CNET’s full coverage of the 2020 elections.
The Nevada Democratic party is apparently trying to avoid a repeat of the Iowa caucus chaos. The party plans to use a new “caucus tool” to help precinct chairs tabulate caucus results, CBS News reported Sunday.
The party was quick to point out during volunteer summits on Saturday that the new tool isn’t an app, like the one that delayed results for days during the Iowa caucus earlier this month. Instead, precinct chairs will be given iPads disconnected from the internet with preloaded with the new tool.
The state’s Democratic Party didn’t disclose the identity of the new tool’s developer on Saturday but did tell summit attendees that a team of “security experts” was working with the party on the tool.
The confusion delayed the announcement of a winner in the Feb. 3 Iowa caucus, the first nominating contest of the 2020 US presidential election. Many people blame the Iowa Democratic Party for what appears to be a botched rollout of an app on such a big stage.
A company called Shadow, which describes itself as a creator of “political power for the progressive movement” was commissioned to build the Iowa caucus app. That state’s party chairman said the problem was a “coding issue” with the system, which caused the app to only report partial data.
Nevada’s caucuses will be held on Feb. 22, but that state’s Democratic Party chairman has already said it won’t use the Shadow app, as had apparently been the plan.
“NV Dems can confidently say that what happened in the Iowa caucus last night will not happen in Nevada,” William McCurdy II wrote. “We will not be employing the same app or vendor used in the Iowa caucus.”
The Nevada Democratic Party didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.