Nevada reportedly set to use the same app that threw Iowa into chaos

If you thought Monday night’s Iowa caucus meltdown was bad, get ready, because Nevada is reportedly set to use the same technology. 

CNN reported that the app created by Shadow, Inc. (yes, really) that threw the Iowa caucuses into disarray would be used for Nevada’s Feb. 22 caucus. 

The Intercept’s Lee Fang reported that the Iowa Democratic Party shelled out more than $63,000 to Shadow. The Nevada Democratic Party reportedly paid $58,000 to the same company. 

So what exactly happened? Pieces of the story are still trickling out but, so far, here’s what we’ve pieced together.

Precinct chairs were supposed to use the app to deliver caucus results directly to the Democratic Party. Reports surfaced as early as Monday afternoon, hours before the caucus even began, that there might be issues with the app, concerns that were clearly borne out Monday night.

When those problems forced precinct captains to call results in to the party’s state headquarters, phone lines got tied up with some captains on hold for hours. One precinct captain told CNN that when they were finally able to upload a screenshot of results within the app, the app recorded different tallies than had been reported on the screenshot. 

By early Tuesday morning, those issues were coming in to focus. The Associated Press reported that “coding issues” within the app were to blame for what went down and says those issues have now been fixed. 

Iowa Democratic Party Chair Troy Price said in a statement Tuesday, “We have every indication that our systems were secure and there was not a cyber security intrusion.” So it’s just a good, old-fashioned clusterfuck. 

Price continued, “As part of our investigation, we determined with certainty that the underlying data collected via the app was sound. While the app was recording data accurately, it was reporting out only partial data. We have determined that this was due to a coding issue in the reporting system. This issue was identified and fixed. The application’s reporting issue did not impact the ability of precinct chairs to report data accurately.”

Not helping matters? The fact that the Democratic Party didn’t properly test the app on a large scale before Monday night, according to the New York Times, which, well, facepalm. Sources told the Times that the app was created in only the last two months, which dovetails with what The Intercept’s Fang reported.

So what does this mean for Nevada? We don’t yet know. Mashable has reached out to the Nevada Democratic Party for comment on their planned use of the app.

In the end, Iowa’s disaster may be Nevada’s gain, though one would think a major political party would really have taken the step of testing the app and working out its bugs before it was put in to use. With those issues ironed out, Nevada’s experience may be a breeze. 

Or it may be a meltdown all over again because, well, what else should we expect in 2020?