App Used to Tabulate Votes Is Said to Have Been Inadequately Tested

[Autumn]

The app was quickly put together in the past two months and was not properly tested at a statewide scale, according to people briefed on the matter.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/03/us/politics/iowa-caucus-app.html

The app used by the Iowa Democratic Party was built by Shadow Inc., a for-profit technology company that is also used by the Nevada Democratic Party, the next state to hold a caucus, as well as by multiple presidential campaigns. Shadow’s involvement was kept a secret by Democratic officials through the caucuses.

An official from Shadow did not respond to requests for comment, but one of the company’s investors, Acronym, a progressive nonprofit company, released a statement saying that Acronym was a separate entity from Shadow and that it was still waiting to hear from the Iowa Democratic Party “with respect to what happened.”

Matt Blaze, a professor of computer science and law at Georgetown, said that introducing apps in the midst of an election posed many problems. Any type of app or program that relies on using a cellphone network to deliver results is vulnerable to problems both on the app and on the phones being used to run it, he said.

“The consensus of all experts who have been thinking about this is unequivocal,” Mr. Blaze added. “Internet and mobile voting should not be used at this time in civil elections.”

[lapfog_1]

1. In the future dictionaries

under the definition of "obvious"...

[heckles65]

2. I aboslutely agree.

“The consensus of all experts who have been thinking about this is unequivocal,” Mr. Blaze added. “Internet and mobile voting should not be used at this time in civil elections.” Agreed. I don't use my cell phone to make bank deposits, I never put my SS number on it, and I don't want to use it to vote. All for the same reasons.

[Autumn]

4. They shouldn't be used for voting. As for being used in caucus I'm lucky to get service in

a high school gymnasium, Wal Mart, and even Safeway, using their hot spot. This was stupid beyond the pale and created a clusterfuck to end all clusterfucks.

[Recursion]

3. 80 year old precinct workers were asked to sideload an unsigned ADB

Count the people

Call the state party with the results

This isn't rocket science.

[getagrip_already]

5. Hey, they paid a whole $60k for it!!!!

Do ya wanna know what you can get for $60k when an app developer will be fully loaded at $150k/year or more?

This.

2 part time developers for 2 months, and little or no field testing, specified by non-technical part time party staffers.

You get what you pay for, and what you specify. Miss on both, and you get a hot steaming pile of trouble.

[jalan48]

6. Who decided that an app was needed and this soon before the caucus?

[2naSalit]

7. THERE WAS NO CONTINGENCY PLAN!!!

[honest.abe]

8. Load testing should have been a critical part of the development process.

I'm a web systems engineer and to not have load tested this app prior to its use is inexcusable.