Reporting delays, app glitches raise questions again about first-in-the-nation Iowa caucus

Vice President Joe Biden's campaign strongly criticized Iowa Democratic Party leaders late Monday for delays in caucus results that kept the world waiting in the nation's first test of presidential muster.

Dana Remus, general counsel for Biden for President, wrote a letter to the Iowa Democratic Party executive director Kevin Geiken and chairman Troy Price late Monday, saying the party's new app and its backup phone hotline failed.

"We understand that caucus chairs are attempting to — and, in many cases, failing to — report results telephonically to the party. These acute failures are occurring statewide," he said.

"We believe that the campaigns deserve full explanations and relevant

information regarding the methods of quality control you are employing, and an opportunity to respond, before any official results are released."

The new app, and the secrecy surrounding it, were the source of much controversy heading into the contest. Party leaders declined to release its developer or details about how it had been tested. They said that was on the advice of national experts.

Polk County Democrats chairman Sean Bagniewski said he was at the Knapp Center when reports started to come in that precinct leaders couldn't use the app.

“We were dealing with what we thought were sporadic reporting issues,” he said. "Then it became the norm for the evening."

Bagniewski said nearly all of the county’s 177 precincts have delivered boxes back to the county’s offices with the written preference cards that spell out the precincts’ results. He said the results are nearly all in — they just can’t report them to the state party.

And he said the telephone hotline is unusable, with callers waiting for more than an hour in some cases to try to report.

"The app hasn’t been working since last week,” he said. “We talk to our chairs very regularly. As of last Thursday, we were telling people if they hadn’t been able to download it and access it and test to not use it and just call in (results) like every other year. We didn’t expect the phone line to be crashing.”

David Redlawsk, chairman of political science and international relations at the University of Delaware, said he believes the delays in reporting ultimately will overshadow the outcome of the caucuses.

Redlawsk has spent the last six months as a visiting professor at the University of Iowa following the 2020 Iowa caucuses.

“Obviously this creates a challenge for Iowa’s position as first given there has been a lot of pressure — maybe even more than usual — on that,” Redlawsk said late Friday. “From the perspective of the Iowa Democratic Party, getting it right is more important than getting it fast, but I think it’s going to create more challenge.”

Campaign workers for Democrats had reported glitches with the new reporting app before precinct chairs reported Monday's results.

Emily Duff, who volunteered as a captain for Bernie Sanders' campaign Monday night, said she tried the app and expressed concerns before her caucus.

Duff's precinct in the gym at Hoover High School in Des Moines wound up reporting results manually, she said.

"People were having issues, so they ditched the app," she said.

Mandy McClure, communications director for the Iowa Democratic Party, said the delays later Monday were the result of quality checks and the fact the party was reporting three sets of data for the first time.

McClure said the party did find inconsistencies in the three data sets: The first round, the second round and the overall delegate numbers.

"This is simply a reporting issue, the app did not go down and this is not a hack or an intrusion," she said.

Caucus sites used photos of results recorded on paper, in addition to technology to report results, she said.

McClure said the underlying data reported Monday night was solid and would simply take time.

Earlier in the day, several Democratic precinct chairs complained they were unable to log into the new phone app to report results.

Bret Niles, chairman of the Linn County Democratic Party, said he was aware of eight of 86 precinct officials in that county that had trouble logging into the app as of about 2:30 p.m. Monday.

Precinct chairs had been provided a PIN to test the mobile app, which was different than a login required for Caucus Day. Some might have entered the wrong login credentials Monday, creating temporary problems, Niles said.

But precinct chairs also tabulated results manually and could call them into a hotline instead of using the new app.

The party was criticized for failing to release more information before Caucus Day about the vendor it used to create the reporting app. But party officials said they did that on the advice of national experts to discourage making the vendor a target for hackers.

Late-night results have been common. Before 2016, results were often recorded manually and routinely called in by phone.

In the 2012 caucuses, Mitt Romney was declared winner of the Republican caucus by eight votes on caucus night, but the contest was challenged after paperwork suggested Rick Santorum tallied more votes.

But concern about cybersecurity and disinformation campaigns became more critical after attempts by Russian officials to hack several states’ systems, including Iowa’s, in 2016.

Neither Democrats nor Republicans used the same apps this year as they did in 2016, when problems were also reported.

In 2016, Iowa Democratic Party Chairwoman Andy McGuire didn’t announce until 2:30 a.m. that Hillary Clinton eked out a slim victory, over Sanders.

Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics, said Iowa’s delay is a disaster for the future of the Iowa caucuses.

"I’d say there is going to be a real movement to change the order of primaries. I really do believe it and I never believed it before," he said.

But Dianne Bystrom, director emerita of the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics at Iowa State University, said she believes Sabato was “a little harsh.”

The saving grace for Iowa will be if the candidate who is ultimately declared the winner goes on to win the nomination or presidency, she said.

“The Iowa caucuses are always under a watchful scrutiny,” Bystrom said. “Any time there is a mix-up or a delay — coupled with the fact that the Des Moines Register had to turn back their poll — it does make people impatient.”

Other mishaps Monday made for a tense evening.

A caucusgoer said there was confusion Monday at a West Des Moines location that resulted in Elizabeth Warren losing viability when she might not have. Eric Kochneff, 36, of West Des Moines said he attended the Precinct 114 caucus at Stilwell Junior High and was among those supporting Warren.

Kochneff said the group was told 363 were in attendance and that 56 people would amount to 15 percent, meaning a candidate was viable.

"We had 54, so we got two more,” he said. “It looked like we were viable, and then they counted up all the votes again. This time, instead of 363, they had 379 total votes in the room. They went with the higher number, which made the viability number 57."

He complained that people did not get a chance to regroup after learning 11 more people had participated who weren’t registered.

“It devolved into a scene of chaos instead of an orderly political event,” he said.

The higher number made Warren unviable. Bernie Sanders, Pete Buttigieg, Joe Biden and Amy Klobuchar were all viable.

Pate says bad voter data insinuations are #fakenews

Iowa’s Republican secretary of state chastised a right-wing D.C.-based foundation Monday for circulating false claims on social media suggesting inaccurate voter registrations heading into Caucus Day.

Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said on Twitter, Facebook and in a news release that eight Iowa counties had total voter registration rates larger than the eligible voter population.

But Secretary of State Paul Pate said early Monday that Fitton’s claims were “patently false," providing a link to actual county-by-county voter registration totals.

"It’s unfortunate this organization continues to put out inaccurate data regarding voter registration, and it’s especially disconcerting they chose the day of the Iowa Caucus to do this," Pate said in a news release.

Judicial Watch conducted an analysis of 2019 data released by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission and said Dallas, Johnson, Lyon, Madison, Poweshiek, Dickinson, Scott and Warren counties were among 378 nationwide that had a greater percentage of voter registrations than citizens living there who were old enough to vote.

In an interview with the Register, Fitton said the state reported the data to the commission in 2019 for publication under federal law. He said more recent data is "ephemeral" and cannot be verified again until after the general election in 2021.

"Those numbers will get worse heading into the general election because typically there will be a big uptick in registration in November," he said.

Judicial Watch launched legal challenges in four states that have led to settlements or agreements, including a new process in Los Angeles County to clean up election rolls that "may lead to 1.5 million names being removed."

But Kevin Hall, a spokesperson for Pate, said the organization's analysis included inactive voters in Iowa who have not voted in the past couple of years or responded to multiple mailings. Many of those people have moved, he said.

It also used inaccurate populations for Dallas and Johnson counties, he said.

"If you look at the total number of registered voters right now and (current) populations using the U.S. Census, his numbers are wrong," Hall said. "But instead of doing research, he's doubling down. This is election misinformation."

Hall said the state was required to keep some voters on the rolls reported to the commission for a certain period of time, but those voters would have to take extra steps, like showing an ID, to become active again at the polls.

"Iowa is not Los Angeles County, and we believe our rolls are as clean as accurate as they can be," Hall said. "The numbers don't lie. We're using actual numbers, and they clearly refute what Judicial Watch is saying."

In his news release, Pate said: "My office has told this organization, and others who have made similar claims, that their data regarding Iowa is deeply flawed and their false claims erode voter confidence in elections," Pate said. "They should stop this misinformation campaign immediately and quit trying to disenfranchise Iowa voters.”

Iowa’s voter registration statistics are updated monthly and available on the Secretary of State’s website.

Judicial Watch is a conservative organization that says it investigates official misconduct and promotes "transparency, accountability and integrity in government, politics and the law."

It has also been accused of engaging in partisan politics. The organization has drawn fire in other locales for making similar claims of voter registration irregularities based on faulty statistics.

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Since Russian officials tried to interfere in Iowa and other states in the 2016 election, officials in the Iowa Democratic and Republican parties have spent months building a strategy to counteract false claims made on social media heading into the caucuses.

Felon voting headaches continue

Some people expressed disappointment Monday with Iowa’s ongoing felon voting ban despite an announcement Friday that a backlog of hundreds of felon voter restoration applications had been processed ahead of the presidential caucuses.

Iowa became the last state with a permanent felon voting ban after newly elected Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear signed an executive order in December restoring the rights of roughly 140,000 nonviolent felons.

A database used to track the more than 60,000 Iowans who can’t vote because of the ban has been found in recent years to have thousands of errors.

Gov. Kim Reynolds is pushing the state to approve a constitutional amendment to end the ban. And Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate has announced his staff is reviewing each of the files in the database, clearing the flawed list and only using entries that have been verified.

Still, Iowans with felony convictions can’t legally vote until they’ve received clemency, and confusion about the law continued Monday.

Jarvis Guyton, 31, served two years in prison for a drug conviction about a decade ago. The recent college graduate, who played football at Grand View University, had applied to have his rights restored by the caucuses.

But his hopes were dashed when he received a letter Friday from Reynolds’ office.

Reynolds had not approved Guyton’s restoration because he was not on a payment plan to repay all fines, costs and restitution ordered from his most recent felony conviction.

Guyton told the Register on Monday that before the letter from the governor’s office he wasn’t aware of some of the fees, which he said amounts to around $4,000. He said he planned to contact court officials in the next week to set up a payment plan but “is kind of down” that he is prohibited from participating in the 2020 caucuses.

He said he would have acted sooner had he received notice earlier from the governor’s office.

"I think it’s ridiculous, but I will definitely keep trying," said Guyton, noting he hopes to have his voting rights restored by the general election.

The Register was notified of at least one other person who a governor’s spokesman confirmed was — like Guyton — denied voter restoration and informed of outstanding court fees or fines just days before the Monday caucuses.

Reynolds in the last year has simplified the restoration process and waived a $15 application fee.

People who have questions should contact the governor’s staff, said Pat Garrett, a spokesman for Reynolds.

Officials from the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa said Monday evening after the caucuses had begun that they were aware of people who had applied for restoration and were still waiting for a response.

At least one of those people was not current in repayment plans for court fees, fines or restitution, according to information from Reynolds’ office.

“We don’t know the reason that some people have not heard back from the governor’s office on their applications for restoration of voting rights. But we do know it’s concerning that Iowa’s destructive felony disenfranchisement laws continue to make it hard for people to participate directly in the political process," said Daniel Zeno, ACLU of Iowa Director of Policy and Advocacy.

"This is just one more reason for Iowa to join the rest of the country on this issue,”

Caucus site confusion

Party officials — as in previous caucus cycles — dealt with some confusion about caucus site locations.

Some campaign mailers in the final days before the caucuses provided incorrect caucus site addresses, Sean Bagniewski, chairman of the Polk County Democrats, said in a tweet Wednesday.

And the city of Windsor Heights on Monday published incorrect caucus site information in an apparent miscommunication with party leaders.

Bagniewski advised people to confirm their caucus locations, which can be done on the party’s web site or calling their headquarters at (515) 244-7292.

Windsor Heights gave similar advice.

"The city of Windsor Heights is not trying to mislead any caucus-goers," the city posted on Facebook. "Please consult the Iowa Democratic Party to find your caucus location."