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The NYT reported 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 (LA Times report).

<><> 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 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.