Democratic Primaries
Related: About this forumHere's a List of Everything That Went Wrong at the Iowa Caucuses
Source: New York Times
By Lauren Leatherby, Lazaro Gamio and Keith Collins
Feb. 4, 2020
An untested technology, novel reporting requirements, nearly a dozen competitors to tally across 1,600 precincts what could go wrong? As the Iowa Democratic Party discovered Monday night, nearly everything.
A faulty smartphone app was at the center of a chaotic caucus night in Iowa, but technical glitches were not the only reasons behind a major delay in results from the states first-in-the-nation presidential contest. Heres a look at all the problems.
The app was new and relatively untested.
The Iowa Democratic Party commissioned Shadow Inc., a for-profit technology company, to build an app in less than two months to help report results from around the state.
The short development timeline for the app and lack of rigorous vetting may have rendered it more vulnerable to problems with its code. It was not tested statewide before the votes.
-snip-
Volunteers were unfamiliar with the new system.
Training on how to use the app was available before the caucuses.
Not everyone took advantage of it, leaving the process unfamiliar to many caucus chairs on caucus night. Users reported trouble downloading the app, which was not available on either the Apple or Android app stores and required a cumbersome installation process.
-snip-
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/02/04/us/politics/iowa-democratic-caucus-explained.html
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Sherman A1
(38,958 posts)It worked swimmingly.......
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
at140
(6,110 posts)My understanding is, it collected no. of votes for pre-defined names of candidates from all precincts,,
and determine no. of delegates won by each candidate based on votes ,
and add them up, and compute percentages. Add some security measures such as passwords to modify data.
Does not sound like a difficult process.
I could write code for that in 3 days and test it for 2 days, and it will be bullet-proof App.
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
htuttle
(23,738 posts)Then some other system could use grab the individual totals from Google Sheets in the background, and do whatever totaling it needed to from that.
No need for an 'app'.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Eugene
(61,964 posts)Running a service with hundreds of concurrent users under variable environment conditions with loose user training is never that simple. No responsible software developer promises a bulletproof app, and no manager with two working synapses to rub together deploys a system without realistic testing.
Systems contain hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of lines of code. Mistakes and faulty assumptions are inevitable.
Remember the debacle with the initial Obamacare roll out, where the system crashed when more than 6 people tried to use it concurrently.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
at140
(6,110 posts)During my 37 years working as mechanical engineer, I was responsible for 300 apps for design and manufacturing, and they turned out to be bullet proof. Total lines of code exceeds couple of million lines. I built in so many checks to validate the input by users, no faulty design ever got through and every part machined by computer controlled machine tools was produced perfect. So it can be done with focus, talent and knowledge.
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
samnsara
(17,650 posts)...everyone bitching about caucuses better take a look at your own state. If you still use electronic voting machines you are well on your way to a debacle of your own.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
gab13by13
(21,418 posts)but from what I heard on the TV, was that not all of the precincts followed the correct procedure for the 2nd vote.
Caucuses are like the Electoral college, the person with the most votes doesn't always win.
One person - One vote.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden