The first signs of trouble at the Iowa Caucuses came early.
<><> the smartphone app had been ok'ed last fall by Harvard's Harvard’s “Defending Digital Democracy Project”
to develop strategies and systems to protect results and deal with misinformation.
<><> The Harvard group included "party campaign experts” and experts in
(A) cybersecurity, (B) national security, (C) technology and (D) election administration.
<><> fortuitously, the Harvard group simulated different ways “things could go wrong” on caucus night.
<><> (cue maniacal laugh machine here).
<><> but a simple task like reporting the results began failing last Monday night.
<><> "quick-thinking" Democrat party officials then instructed precinct leaders to move to Plan B:
<><> plan B had precincts call-in results into caucus hdq in Des Moines, to be entered into a secure system by volunteers.
<><> but when volunteers tried to log on, they discovered they needed smartphones to retrieve a code,
<><> the caucus team they had been told NOT to bring phones into the “boiler room” in Des Moines.
<><> a torrent of results were phoned in from gyms, union halls and elsewhere, places that made the Iowa caucuses a world-famous "model of democracy,"
<><> it soon became clear that the whole smart-phone, app process was melting down.
<><> desperate volunteers resorted to passing around a spare iPad to log into the system
<><> other Dems , desperate to verify results, were telling precinct leaders to email photos of worksheets that tallied results — to a dedicated email address.
<><> for hours, no one monitored the inbox; finally opened Tues AM, there were 700 emails with photos sent sideways;
<><> volunteers faced the task of deciphering the handwritten forms.
<><> Iowa Demo Party chair, Troy Price, huddled with other Democrat officials,
<><> alas, no Democrat had a clear strategy to manage the unfolding chaos with exasperated presidential campaigns.
...and these people want to control the rest of us....
Yes. That’s one of the funniest articles I’ve ever seen. Good reporting, even if it’s the New York Slimes.
