Nevada Caucus Volunteers Sound a Little Worried

Democrats drop apps but haven't completed their replacement
By Bob Cronin,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 14, 2020 4:31 PM CST
Nevada Party Is Still Working on Avoiding Another Iowa
Presidential preferences cards are held up as votes are counted during a Democratic caucus at the University of Nevada in 2016.   (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

The state Democratic Party has taken the first step in trying to avoid an Iowa-like debacle on Nevada's caucus day, Feb 22. The party dropped the two apps that were going to be used, because they were made by the same company whose app has been blamed for the Democrats' counting problems in Iowa's caucus. A "caucus calculator" will be used instead, according to a memo released Thursday by the state party. The volunteers who are to use the tool are getting nervous; they haven't been told much about the new system or been able to try it out, CNN reports. "There was no training on the tool because they're still working on it," said one volunteer who will lead the count at several precincts. He said everyone has just been told: "Trust us. We've got it well in hand. We can't tell you what vendors we use because then they'll be hacked."

The director of the Nevada Democratic Party said the tool is being tested by security professionals. Training will run right up to Caucus Day, she said, "to ensure our volunteers are confident." The calculator will only be on iPads owned by the party, unlike the situation in Iowa, per ABC News, and available through a Google form. Google and the Department of Homeland Security are involved in the testing, and the presidential campaigns have been informed. Redundancies in the process are being developed. "We've been working around the clock here just making sure that what happened in Iowa doesn't happen in Nevada," a state Democratic official said. "That's obviously something we are very confident in." (More Nevada caucus stories.)

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