The Iowa Democratic Presidential Primary: A Cautionary Tale of Election Tech Failure

On February 3rd, Iowa went to the polls, officially kicking off the Democratic presidential primary. What was supposed to be a momentous occasion turned out to be a disaster, courtesy of a technical malfunction in an app designed to report results from the caucuses.

The app, created by a firm called Shadow, was intended to help over 1,600 precincts send back their results in real-time. However, it appears that the app was made quick and dirty, built over two months for just $60,000. This might seem like a paltry amount, but when you consider the complexity of making iOS and Android apps plus maintaining a database to store the results, it's clear that the Shadow team was operating on a shoestring budget.

The problems with the app were evident from the start. Precincts could download the app, but coding errors meant they could only report partial results. This led to a situation where the party had to restart the entire process from scratch just to ensure the numbers were accurate. It's not uncommon for apps to fail, especially when you consider that Shadow is a relatively new company with limited experience in election tech. However, given the stakes involved in an election, the fallout has been intense.

The failure of the app sent shockwaves through social media, with conspiracy theories emerging quickly. Many people assumed that someone had deliberately tried to disrupt the process, hurting their preferred candidate's chances. While it's understandable that some might be skeptical, there's no evidence to suggest that this was the case. In fact, the Iowa election officials themselves have denied any foul play.

The incident highlights a larger issue with voting infrastructure in the US. The country's electoral system is woefully underfunded and vulnerable to technical failures. This is particularly concerning as we approach the 2020 general election. Voting infrastructure should be robust and reliable, not prone to breakdowns when it matters most.

To put this into perspective, Microsoft bankrolled a similar effort for the 2016 Iowa caucuses, spending closer to $1 million on the technology. In contrast, Shadow's app cost just $60,000, which is significantly less than what was spent on the 2016 version. However, when you consider the complexity of election tech and the limited experience of some vendors, it's clear that even a fraction of this budget could result in technical failures.

One of the most concerning aspects of this incident is the way it highlights the systemic issues with voting in America. Many people assume that everyone has an equal chance to participate in elections, but the reality is far from it. Funding for local polling places is often woefully inadequate, leaving them underfunded and struggling to cope with the demands of election day.

For instance, in many counties, the polling place is run by the county itself, with only a tiny bit of funding coming from the state and federal governments. This can lead to situations where polling places are understaffed or lack basic equipment. It's no wonder that voters often face long lines and delays when trying to cast their ballots.

So what can be done to address these issues? One potential solution is automatic voter registration, which could help stop people from playing political games with voter rolls. Longer hours at polling places and the addition of more polling locations could also help reduce wait times and increase voter turnout. Moreover, making Election Day a federal holiday could help reduce congestion and make voting more accessible.

However, these solutions will require significant investment and policy changes. Unfortunately, many people in power seem more interested in undermining voting rights than promoting electoral integrity. The notion that everyone should be able to vote is often seen as a partisan issue, rather than a fundamental right that underpins American democracy.

The fact that we're still debating the importance of voting and election integrity highlights just how far off track our system has become. When technology fails, it's not just the app or the registration roll that breaks down – it's the entire system. This can lead to mistrust in the electoral process and undermine faith in democracy itself.

In the end, fixing this rupture will be a lot harder than fixing an app like the one that failed in Iowa. It requires a fundamental shift in how we approach voting and election tech, rather than simply patching up individual problems with Band-Aids.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- On February 3rd, Iowa went to the polls,officially kicking off theDemocratic presidential primary.It was the first big chancefor candidates to seize the momentumand it was kind of a disaster.- It all comes down to technology.It appears that this app just failed.- A technical disaster.- And what seemed to becoding problem with the app.- You probably heard about this appthat was supposed to reportresults back from the caucuses.On the night of the vote, it broke,which meant the precincts weresuddenly sending back totalsthrough clogged phonelines or, in some cases,texting pictures of the caucus worksheet.Because of the incomplete results,it took days to nail downwho had actually won.Now there's no indicationthat this was a cyber attackor a conspiracy or anything,but it's still a really alarming sign,particularly as we head intothe 2020 general election.Voting infrastructure isreally vulnerable, underfunded,and increasingly, it's breaking downwhen we need it the most.This is one of the biggestthreats to democracy right nowand it comes down to a technology problem.But to see why it's happening,you gotta look at the big picture.(dramatic music)So the problem here was a single appmade by a firm called Shadowto help the more than 1,600precincts send back results.Unfortunately, the appwas made quick and dirty,apparently built over twomonths for just $60,000.That might sound like a lot,but when you're makingiOS and Android appsplus a whole databaseto maintain the results,you go through it pretty fast.When Microsoft bankrolled a similar effortfor the 2016 Iowa caucuses,members of the teamsaid the bill was closerto a million dollars.The Shadow team also madeweird rookie mistakeslike distributing the appthrough a testing platformthat made it hard to even download.Even when precinctscould download the app,a coding error meant they couldonly report partial results,which then meant the party had to restartthe entire process from the beginningjust to make sure the numbers were right.Days later, they're stillsorting through it all.Now apps fail all the time, andgiven the shoestring budget,it's not that surprisingthat this one did.But because it's election tech,the fallout's been really intense.- But what we've also seenis an enormous amount of social mediawith a whole bunch ofcrazy conspiracy theories,a whole lot of argumentsthat this is maybe whypeople shouldn't vote.- When the tech fails, ithurts the whole process.Everyone assumes that things went badbecause someone wantedto hurt their candidate,and it's not a crazy thing to thinkbecause in America specifically,voting has gone from a fundamental rightto one more piece of the partisan game.A lot of the people running US electionsjust want to turn out as fewof the other side'ssupporters as possible,whether that means kickingpeople off voter rollswithout telling them orshutting down polling placesso people have to wait hoursjust to cast their vote.Funding's a big part of ittoo, and this is a big reasonwhy elections are sounderfunded in the US.Your local polling place isusually run by the countywith only a tiny bit offunding from the stateand federal governments.So even when a county election boardwants to make voting easy and secure,they often can't afford to.That weakens the whole system,just like we saw in Iowa.Now it doesn't have to be this way.Policies like automatic voterregistration can stop peoplefrom playing politicalgames with voter rolls.More polling places mean shorter lines.And if you make ElectionDay a federal holiday,you won't get a huge rushas soon as work lets out.You can even spread ElectionDay out over a whole weekendjust so everyone can make it to the polls.But we don't do any of that in the USand it's because a lotof the people in powerjust don't want everybody to vote.People worry a lot about cyber attackson voting infrastructure, but really,we don't need hackers tobreak our election systems.We're doing it ourselves.The whole idea of elections,the whole idea of democracy itself,is to let these opposingfactions agree on a processand agree to be bound by the result,even if it doesn't go their way.But the more we degrade that system,the less reason there is to trust itand the less it's actually ableto resolve those conflicts.That starts with the tech breaking,tech like the Iowa app,the registration roll,the voting machine itself.But it ends with a much deeper rupturein the way political powerworks in this country.And fixing that ruptureis gonna be a lot harderthan fixing an app.Thanks for watching.Throw us a like if you liked it,and if you want to hear mecomplain about thegovernment a little bit more,check out our video on robo-calls.They're actually doing like an okay jobon that one finally, butstill, I have some concerns.\n"