Iowa caucuses go high-tech

[antigop]

http://www.rawstory.com/2016/01/iowa-caucuses-go-high-tech/

The February 1 Iowa caucuses will still involve voting on scraps of paper on the Republican side and, for Democrats, something resembling a game of musical chairs. But now both parties will use a Microsoft smartphone or tablet app to report the results from each precinct caucus back to the state party on election night. In addition, the Democrats will host a tele-caucus for Iowa residents who are out of the country, allowing them to vote via a conference call system.

Well, gee, what could POSSIBLY go wrong with that?

[MineralMan]

1. In Minnesota, we vote at the caucuses on little scraps of paper, too.

The names of eligible candidates are written on a blackboard, since most caucuses are held in school buildings. Then, voters write the name they prefer on a scrap of paper, which is then folded. Vote counters, elected early in the caucus, then count the votes after the time for voting has passed.

The scraps of paper and a tally is put in an manila envelope and handed to DFL party officials, who report the totals to the Congressional District organization, which reports the overall totals to the state DFL organization.

We're old school with this, but results are generally known by the next morning.

It's an old-fashioned way to do it, but caucuses, themselves, are old-fashioned.

[CoffeeCat]

2. Yes, but Iowa has a system of checks and balances...

I was a precinct captain in 08. We did use paper to tally the results--which were checked and re-checked by numerous people very openly. We could all see the final results. Then, several of us accompanied the precinct chair who reported the results to state-party central. Multiple witnesses heard the phone call.

Here's the clincher--all precinct results are posted publicly. There are 1700 precincts. So, the results from each precinct will be public. It's been this way for decades. I can't imagine that this year would be any different. If it was different, that would be a big ol red flag. I'm not going to react to worst-case scenarios. I'm going to assume that individual precinct results will be made public, as they always have.

There are too many eyes on our caucus system. Too many procedures that have been in place for decades, that ensure transparency and fairness when it comes to the final counts.

Also, this is the first year that Iowa has allowed people who are not at the caucus (Iowans overseas, students out of state, Peace Corp volunteers, Iowans serving in the military overseas, etc.) to caucus remotely. From what I understand, these people need to be live on a conference call or on Skype caucusing in real time. To be eligible for remote caucusing, the voter had to first prove that they were from Iowa and Dem-party officials confirmed their identity.

I have heard that very few Iowans are participating. But I'm unaware of final numbers. The deadline to participate passed in early January. I have faith that this will not be a problem.