Sanders camp suspicious of Microsoft’s influence in Iowa Caucus

MSNBC ^ | 1/27/2016 | Alex Seitz-Wald

[BlackFemaleArmyColonel]

The campaign of Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is raising questions about the involvement of Microsoft in the Iowa Caucuses, now just five days away, and has built a independent system to check the official results.

For the first time this year, Microsoft partnered with the Iowa Democratic and Republican Parties to provide a technology platform with which the parties will run their caucuses. The software giant created separate mobile apps for each party, which officials at hundreds of caucuses across the state will use to report out results from individual precincts to party headquarters for tabulation.

The arrangement has aroused the suspicions of aides to Sanders, whose regularly warns that corporate power and the billionaire class are trying to hijack democracy. Pete D'Alessandro, who is running the Iowa portion of Sanders' campaign, questioned the motives of the major multinational corporation in an interview with MSNBC: "You'd have to ask yourself why they'd want to give something like that away for free."

The Sanders campaign has built their own reporting system to check the results from the official Microsoft-backed app. It has trained its precinct captain on using the app, which is designed to be as user friendly as possible, and the campaign will also staff a hotline system as further redundancy.

"It's just a way that our folks can have an app that we trust to get the numbers to us in a timely fashion," D'Alessandro said. "I'm always going to be more for sure on the stuff that my people had control over the entire time... If there are any problems, we can spot them right away."

Other Sanders aides noted that Microsoft employees have donated several hundred thousand dollars to Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton over her career,

[BlackFemaleArmyColonel]

I expect they will try and rig the results too!

[struggle]

Lol, it could be so beautiful.

Clinton wins the candidacy.

Clinton gets indicted in October.

[a fool in paradise]

Libs would be much happier if it was Apple doing this.

[a fool in paradise]

No controlling legal authority to say that she can’t serve in office.

[newfreep]

For the first time this year, Microsoft partnered with the Iowa Democratic and Republican Parties...

The Uni-Party will not go quietly!

[nevermorelenore]

And Google sponsoring FOX debate !?

[grania]

The suspicions started back 16 years ago, when GWB defeated Gore. The chad thing never felt right. Remember the news about GWB supporters storming offices to stop a full and accurate count? Remember the SC putting a time limit on getting an accurate count? It got me thinking that the votes are a rigged game from an invisible hand controlling things. I never got that feeling before that.

With each succeeding election, it gets worse. Now, I don't think there's any doubt that results are rigged, not just manipulated, with computer programmers able to do amazing things.

Around here (OH) folks have said it's the Kerry, not the Gore result that didn't feel right.

Not having a paper trail is insane.....and I don't mean chad-type ballots. That count should be done in every precinct, and posted so everyone across the country can see if their precinct is correct. Only then should a winner be announced. The media should have to SHUT UP, including no exit polls, until everyone has voted.

Why this ramble? It's the sold old muck in the middle that's controlling things. Sanders and Trump face the same challenges here; any candidate that's not bought and paid for does.

It's a case of the far left and the far right face the same problem...the sewer that mainstream US politics has become, across the "mainstream" polical spectrum.

Trump vs Sanders would be a real excellent exercise for the US. I'm convinced that when it's an honest discussion of what's best for the US, Constitutional Conservative values prevail!

[BlackFemaleArmyColonel]

I remember the “hanging chads.” That was a mess.

Hopefully, Trump and Sanders will bring light to any rigging!

[poconopundit]

Any time the weasels at Microsoft are behind polling machines or statistics, you better be careful.   They are experts at spyware and political bias -- it's plain as day on the BING search engine.

But I have utter confidence Trump's team is on top of this issue big time.

But what will the Trump team do in Philadelphia during the general election where several precincts posted zero votes for Romney in 2012?

[WakeUpAndVote]

Philthadelphia is a no go zone. Between the purple people beaters, the black panthers and the Rendell elite, PA goes the way of philthy.

[McGruff]

The whole election process is flawed. We must look like a Banana Republic to the rest of the world. Maybe they are right.

[SunkenCiv]

Looks like Bernie's about to spin out and go nuts, but this could also be an alibi (because his polling firm has shown him the numbers), or even a jab at Citizens United.

[Zathras]

Microsoft has been in the RAT camp since the $1B NY lawsuit back in 2001.

[cport]

"You'd have to ask yourself why they'd want to give something like that away for free."

I find it ironic that Sanders' camp finds it perfectly normal to question free things from corporations, but does not expect the same motive scrutiny about free things from government.

[SaraJohnson]

I’m glad Sanders is checking the accuracy of this “help.”

Trump or Cruz - whoever gets the nomination will have to be careful with the voting machines, too. In the past, the GOP has permitted crooked voting schemes.