Nevada is just gonna use Google Forms on Caucus Day

The Nevada Democratic Caucus has unveiled its system to avoid an Iowa-like app meltdown. The solution? Google Forms. 

On Wednesday morning, the state party shared a link to their official training materials that demonstrates how precinct captains will be able to use that iPad tool they swear isn’t an app. 

And though a lot of focus will be put on this tool (thanks, Iowa), the training materials make clear that while the digital side of things is there to make life a bit easier for those working the caucus, Nevada isn’t making it the primary means of tabulating. 

Instead, the iPad calculator will be part of the process for calculating the caucus math, but the handwritten reports will ultimately stand as the official recording of results. 

Of course, it’s still worth looking at how the system will actually work so we’ll know what’s up if (when?) something goes horribly wrong.

Google’ll do ya

Whatever you want to call it, the system is actually a series of linked Google Forms and Google Sheets that tally up votes as they’re entered into the system, supposedly making it easier for precinct captains to accurately keep track. 

Instructions for the iPad “calculator” are written in the precinct captain instructions and the general caucus training slides and video. According to those materials, as the caucus tallying starts, votes will be recorded both in the app, on the official caucus reporting sheet that will be sent to the party, and on a “caucus math poster” showing vote totals and calculations that will be hung at the caucus site for all to see. 

By using reliable systems like Google Forms and Sheets, there’s at least more of a stable foundation for collecting votes than the janky app (by the same makers as the Iowa app) that Nevada was originally going to use. 

Locked down

As for security, each iPad tool will have a passphrase that corresponds with each precent number and will be located on the inside of a folder each precinct captain receives from the party ahead of the caucus. It’s not the worst system, but it’s also not great. It’s a password that’s been written down, and we all know that’s a no-no. 

As for the WiFi situation, there’s no telling how the iPads will be protected. If the Google Forms are relaying the information back to the party’s HQ, then it goes to follow that internet connections would do that sending. Whether the iPads will have VPNs or other security measures isn’t known.

I reached out to the state party for more information about what steps they’ve taken and who they’ve worked with to ensure this tool isn’t hackable like Iowa’s tire fire of an app. 

Double-check your work

Perhaps more important than the iPad tool will be the other methods used to tally votes so Nevada can avoid the prolonged disaster that dragged the Iowa caucus’s vote counting into a days-long affair. 

As the Nevada Independent outlines, early caucus vote totals (including realignment preferences) will be submitted to precinct captains in a sealed envelope at the beginning of the caucus. And Caucus Day voters will have to make selections manually via a worksheet. 

Plus, while the iPad tool is designed to send the vote tallies to party headquarters, calling in the results is still the “primary reporting method,” per the Independent. And the training materials refer to the written reporting sheets as “the primary written record of the caucus results.” 

Precinct captains will also be allowed to text photos of their final report sheets while site leads will also collect said photos on to one iPad. So there are other ways to report results if 4Chan crashes the phone lines again. 

TL;DR: This sure seems like a better system than Iowa, and Nevada is at least being kind of transparent. But there are still enough unknowns and questions for us to wonder if things will truly go smoothly on Saturday.