Technology is a good thing when it works as it is supposed to. But when it doesn’t, it can be a huge mess. The problem in Iowa is a case in point.
After months of planning and preparations, the Iowa Democratic Party delivered a whopper last night. More to the point, they failed miserably.
The question is this: Couldn’t they have seen this coming?
If they planned to use an App for reporting, was that App fully tested? Were those directly tasked with using the App fully trained? If not, then why not?
Monday night the Democratic Party in Iowa said there were “inconsistencies” in reporting caucus results and that caused a massive delay and embarrassment for the party.
The delay is frustrating the presidential candidates who had no doubt planned to rally their supporters by proclaiming victory.
The delay also handed Donald Trump something he has waited for a while for: the chance to gloat about the incompetence of the Democrats.
Troy Price, the Iowa Democratic Party Chairman told the various campaigns earlier today thet the state party hopes to have 50 percent of the results in by the end of the day but he wouldn’t commit to a timeline to have all the results in.
Reactions from the various candidates have run from complete silence to claiming victory and then walking it back.
Mayor Pete Buttigieg claimed victory, then attempted to walk it back when he was challenged.
“Looking at what happened last night, looking at all of the data that we’ve got, it was an extraordinary night and we are absolutely victorious coming into New Hampshire,” he told CBS.
“I think it’s safe to say no one in the country is more impatient than I am to hear the official results of the party but we’ve also put out the results that we’ve got from over 1,200 districts. Our precinct organization reported based on a procedure that they were trained to do, and based off that it was a phenomenal night for us.”
He continued that “the improbable hope became an undeniable reality…”
“Tonight, an improbable hope became an undeniable reality,” Buttigieg told supporters in Des Moines on Monday night. “So we don’t know all the results, but we know by the time it’s all said and done — Iowa, you have shocked the nation.”
“We are headed to New Hampshire victorious,” he later said in a video posted on Twitter.
After being challenged for claiming victory even though the results had not been officially announced, Buttigieg demurred, saying that when he declared victory, he didn’t mean to say he won.
“Well, we were looking at the internal numbers that we had and beginning to realize that something extraordinary had happened last night—I mean, here you have a campaign that was really questioned when we first got in, whether we even oughta be here, whether we belonged in this race. And to not only establish that but to reach the position that we did was a clear victory for this campaign,” he said by way of explanation.
Jeff Weaver, a senior adviser for the Bernie Sander’s campaign said the campaign feels like they did very well and the final results will prove that.
“I have a strong feeling that at some point the results will be announced, and when those results are announced I have a good feeling we’re going to be doing very, very well here in Iowa,”
Former Vice President Joe Biden’s campaign called it a “significant failure” while condemning the state party for the failures.
“I think there were some significant failures in the process last night that should give voters concern,” Kate Bedingfield, Biden’s deputy campaign manager told the media Tuesday afternoon.
“It’s going to be close,” Biden later told supporters in Des Moines. “We’re going to walk out of here with our share of delegates. We don’t know exactly what it is yet, but we feel good about where we are.”
Senator Elizabeth Warren said “I feel good” when asked about Iowa results while businessman Andrew Yang said “I’m going right from here to New Hampshire, where I will be one of the seven candidates on the debate stage on Friday night.”
Senator Amy Klobuchar said her campaign was punching about its weight. “We know one thing: we are punching above our weight. Somehow, some way, I’m going to get on a plane tonight to New Hampshire,” she added.
But the question is: Should the Iowa Democratic Party have anticipated this problem? From all account, the party did not adequately test the App.
