Why are the Iowa Caucuses results delayed? App designed to announce results faces glitches
The results of the key Iowa Caucuses on Monday could be delayed after precinct chairs reported issues accessing a new mobile app designed for reporting the final results. The app was formulated for the chairs of each precinct — there are nearly 1,700 caucus sites — to swiftly announce the night's final results.
Caucus leaders, however, just minutes before the voting began, said they were struggling to download and sign in to the new app.
Bloomberg, on Monday evening, reported that the final results could be "delayed by a few hours," however, this glitch should not affect the outcome of the caucus or the reporting of the final results.
Some caucus volunteers, who chose to use the app, could be forced to read their comprehensive results over the phone to state party leaders at the event of the event.
The Iowa Democratic Party, in a statement to the outlet, reiterated that the issues with the new app will not affect the outcome of the state caucuses. The spokesperson for the Iowa Democratic party, Mandy McClure, in a statement, said Iowa caucus leaders have relied on mobile apps before to record results, however, the app causing issues in new and optional.
The app had ignited concerns about hackers tampering with the result recording. However, The New York Times reported that the new app has been “tested and verified” by the Department of Homeland Security and cybersecurity experts before it launched this year.
The chairman of the Iowa Democratic Party, Toy Price, told the outlet last month: "We knew that technology gave us some opportunities in this process, but with those opportunities came different challenges."
There are a total of 11 Democratic candidates vying for the caucusgoers' votes in Iowa, and three in the Republican party. The latest projections from multiple early entrance polls show President Donald Trump as the clear winner from the Republican caucuses, while former Vice-President Joe Biden, Senator Bernie Sanders, Senator Elizabeth Warren and former mayor Pete Buttigieg are the top candidates among Democratic Iowa voters.