The February 1, 2016 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. That should help the state address criticism that has dogged the caucuses in the past, including the high barriers to participation problems with accuracy.
In the past, both parties in Iowa have reported individual precinct results via phone, with an automated dial-in system to punch in the vote counts. The Microsoft platform is replacing that process with separate apps for Republicans and Democrats to input their results digitally and another app for each party’s headquarters to receive those figures and validate the results. The parties can also program their apps to catch potential anomalies or reporting errors. Once the precinct figures are approved by the State party, they’ll be posted online in real time for the public to follow.
Microsoft isn’t charging the Parties or the State for the technology.
Democrats are also touting their new tele-caucus option as a way to make their caucus more inclusive. Iowans living abroad, including members of the military and students, can register for the caucus online, and once their party registration is confirmed, will receive a pin code that will allow them to call in and join the discussion. Instead of physically lining up behind one candidate like the Democratic caucus-goers at home, voters on the tele-caucus will punch in a number to indicate their support for a certain candidate.
But the Bernie Sanders campaign is building its own independent system to report the Iowa caucus results, aides said, because of concerns about Microsoft's influence and questions about how the technology will work. "Our bigger concern now is rolling out a new technology when we're in the middle of an election," Jeff Weaver, Sanders' campaign manager said.
The Clinton campaign is also building a backup reporting system.
Pete D'Alesandro, who is working for Sanders in Iowa, said that they were suspicious of how a corporation might respond to an anti-corporate candidate like Sanders and wanted to be able to verify the results for themselves. "It's just a way that our folks can have an app that we trust to get the numbers to us in a timely fashion," D'Alessandro said. "I'm always going to be more for sure on the stuff that my people had control over the entire time. ... If there are any problems, we can spot them right away."
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
No comments:
Post a Comment